Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile: Business continuity and risk management in
African central banks
Speech by Mr Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile, Governor of Bank of the Uganda, at the closing of the
Regional Workshop on Business Continuity and Risk Management, Entebbe, 9 February 2007.
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It is my pleasure to join you as you wind up this workshop. I also wish to appreciate the support
provided to this workshop by the Bank of England and Deutsche Bundesbank through the experts they
sent to guide deliberations.
In the same way I would like to thank Governors of Central banks of Kenya, Tanzania and Reserve
Bank of Malawi for honouring my invitation to send representatives to attend this workshop.
As the Deputy Governor indicated at the opening ceremony, the BOU considered this workshop as
extremely important given the roles our Central Banks are playing on a day-to-day basis in
macroeconomic management and financial stability of our region.
From the reports we receive at the EAC Monetary Affairs Committee meetings, all the central banks
represented in this workshop are at different phases of implementing business continuity and risk
management programmes. For the Bank of Uganda, we have implemented our Business continuity
program for the last three years while a formal risk management program has now run for slightly over
two years. This workshop therefore has presented us with an opportunity to initiate reviews and
improvements for resilient business continuity and risk management programs in each of our central
banks. I hope that the joint training programme has contributed to further networking on the numerous
issues that you handle.
Within the context of the East African Community's set goal to create a single monetary union for the
East African region, the three central banks in East Africa have spent significant amount of resources
to lay the groundwork for the eventual monetary and political union. Central Banks have been
engaged in efforts to harmonise policies, practices and processes to ensure smooth integration.
Business continuity, risk management and IT governance are some of the areas, which have been
highlighted as key in addressing such a harmonisation process.
In business continuity sphere today, a lot of debate has shifted to the possibility of extending business
continuity sites beyond territorial boundaries. It is possible that with common approaches and
practices discussed in this workshop, our central banks can at some stage act as backup to each
other and hence help business recovery efforts in the event of business disruptions.
As we come to the end of the workshop, it is my hope and belief that the outcomes of the workshop
will be an invaluable contribution to the ongoing efforts to establish sound programs for the
management of risks and business continuity. I hope that this workshop has provided the needed
opportunity to re-assess and evaluate our performance in the areas of business continuity and risk
management.
On behalf of Bank of Uganda I would like once again to thank Bank of England and Bundesbank for
providing support to this workshop and to thank all the delegates for their participation.
It is now my duty to declare this workshop officially closed.