Caleb M Fundanga: Innovation for leadership excellency Remarks by Dr Caleb M Fundanga, Governor of the Bank of Zambia, at the Eastern and Southern African Management Institute (ESAMI) launch of MBA Alumni Zambia Chapter, Lusaka, 12 February 2010. *  *  *  The Eastern and Southern African Management Institute (ESAMI) Director General, Prof. Bonnard Mwape; The President, ESAMI MBA Alumni Zambia Chapter, Mr. Christopher Mulenga; The Ecobank Zambia Limited Managing Director, Mrs Charity Lumpa; ESAMI Alumni; Distinguished Invited Guests; Members of the Press; Ladies and Gentlemen. It is a great pleasure for me to officiate at the launch of the ESAMI MBA Alumni Zambia Chapter. I wish to take this opportunity to welcome Prof. Bonnard Mwape and other ESAMI staff that have travelled from Arusha to come and witness this important occasion. I am particularly delighted to be part of this launch because my first interaction with the ESAMI MBA alumni members was during the recent summer school event held in Arusha, Tanzania, where I was invited to present a paper on “The Effects of the Global Economic Crisis on Zambia”. Indeed my memories of that lively interaction are still very fresh and that is why I graciously accepted to officiate at this function when I received the invitation from the President of the association. Ladies and Gentlemen allow me to congratulate the President and his team for this excellent initiative of bringing together individuals with a common academic background under the Alumni umbrella.

A Memorandum of Understanding between the FSAG participants has been in place since 2014, to support its work on monitoring developments and risks to the banking and financial system and engaging in contingency planning and crisis preparation to prevent and address systemic risks. Thanks to prudent measures undertaken in coordination with all the relevant institutions, the Albanian economy enjoys a sound financial system, with healthy banks, ample liquidity and prudent behaviour in terms of risk-taking. The banking sector operates in a sound and stable macroeconomic environment, sustained by a well-functioning and robust financial system. We are happy to observe that credit quality has improved significantly and the banking sector is consolidating, though more is expected in terms of financial deepening and credit growth. Standing from this point of view, our future efforts will certainly aim towards maintaining sound prudential practices and policies and further developing market discipline to secure a resilient financial system. Staying in this line, the Bank of Albania and the Albanian Deposit Insurance Agency’s relationship has constantly evolved over the years to become a strong partnership and cooperation, allowing our institutions to fulfil their respective, but complementary, missions. The topic of the Technical Assistance Workshop is also of great interest to the Bank of Albania and certainly to other institutions responsible for financial stability. The Bank of Albania looks forward to hearing and learning about the different perspectives and approaches that will be 2/3  BIS central bankers' speeches  shared in this workshop or on the topic.