Mary C Nkosi: Information and communications technology in the SADC region
Opening speech by Mrs Mary C Nkosi, Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of Malawi, at the 2007
SADC ICT Forum Conference, Mangochi, 14 May 2007.
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The Chairman of the SADC ICT Forum, Mr Paulo Maculuve
The Executive Director, Corporate Services
The ICT Directors from the SADC Central Banks
Representatives of Hardware and Software Suppliers
Members of the Press
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen
On behalf of the Governor, who is not able to be with us this morning due to other prior engagements,
I am pleased to warmly welcome all of you here today. I would most especially like to extend a special
welcome to our distinguished delegates from sister central banks within the SADC region. I would also
like to recognize representatives of hardware and software suppliers who are amongst us this
morning.
Mr Chairman and Distinguished Delegates, it is pleasing to note that the SADC Information and
Communications Technology (ICT) Forum will this year be celebrating its 10th Anniversary. Malawi
has therefore been fortunate enough to host this Conference in this memorable year.
As you are all aware, information and communications technology (ICT) has become a critical facet for
the day to day operations in all our central banks. The rapid evolution of ICT, which is generally called
the "ICT revolution", has been exerting a profound impact on the world's economies. As we all can
acknowledge, technological innovation has brought about the speedy processing and transmission of
information, resulting in substantial reduction in costs, wider networking, and globalization on an
unprecedented scale and scope.
Undoubtedly, ICT has affected a varied range of industries world wide, and the banking industry and
central banks in particular, have benefited greatly from this ICT revolution.
Mr Chairman and Distinguished Delegates, the central banks within the SADC region have registered
unprecedented developments and advances in the areas of Payment Systems, website development,
and Banking Supervision Application, just to mention a few areas which are projects emanating from
the SADC ICT Forum. These projects have been possible and successfully implemented largely due
to the co-operation and collaboration that exists between the central banks in the region.
The issues that will be discussed at this Conference are very important in the context of the realization
of some of the key objectives of our central banks that can be achieved through sound implementation
of the ICT functions. This Conference therefore offers all of us various opportunities to effectively
contribute to positive developments of our central banks.
I am informed that one of the notable important projects being undertaken collaboratively is on ICT
Governance implementation within the central banks using the Control Objectives for Information and
related Technology (COBIT) framework.
Mr Chairman and Distinguished Delegates, the importance of ICT Governance can never be over
emphasized. You may recall that infamous scandals such as Enron in the USA, were largely caused
by lack of resilient and sound corporate governance structures within the corporation. It is therefore
only prudent that we must embrace and implement proper corporate governance structures in our
central banks.
The recent emergence of good corporate governance as a key business driver has seen the
emergence of a new ball game, hence the importance of such frameworks as COBIT. It is therefore
my hope that by the end of the Conference, delegates will learn and share a lot of issues on this tool.
Let me now turn my attention to another key issue that I expect delegates to discuss at this
Conference. This relates to the operation of the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan
(RISDP), which is the SADC long-term (15-Year) Strategy. Briefly, the RISDP realigns the cooperation
and integration priorities; articulates the policies and strategies; and, sets the overall targets of the
processes for the different priority intervention areas. As you all know ICT is listed as one such critical
area. I therefore trust that this Conference will seek to prepare a RISDP Action Plan which will steer
ICTs within the SADC region to higher levels. Equally important, I also expect that this initiative will
assist central banks to harmonise their functions so that they can benefit from each others' resources
and knowledge.
Mr Chairman and Distinguished Delegates, at this juncture let me also thank representatives of the
hardware and software suppliers for coming to this Conference. These are our partners and the
technologies that have been implemented in our central banks would not have been possible without
their technical advice, expertise and innovation. It is the wish of the Reserve Bank of Malawi that in
future all the SADC central banks can enter into group agreements on certain ICT services that are
provided by the vendors. We believe that this would enable us share the cost of expensive ICT
resources in order to achieve economies of scale.
I would like to conclude by again thanking you all for coming to this Conference and to Malawi, which
is widely recognized the world over as the "Warm Heart of Africa." You obviously may not have ample
time to see what Lake Malawi has to offer but the least you can do is to sample our most popular
"Chambo" fish dish as well as taking a cruise on the lake.
I wish you fruitful deliberations.
It is now my pleasure to declare the 2007 SADC ICT FORUM CONFERENCE OFFICIALLY OPENED.
I thank you all for your attention.
God bless us all.