Norges Bank’s mandate provides a basis for the conduct of monetary policy: “Monetary policy shall be aimed at stability in the Norwegian krone’s national and international value, contributing to stable expectations concerning exchange rate developments. At the same time, monetary policy shall underpin fiscal policy by contributing to stable developments in output and employment. Norges Bank is responsible for the implementation of monetary policy. Norges Bank’s implementation of monetary policy shall, in accordance with the first paragraph, be oriented towards low and stable inflation. The operational target of monetary policy shall be annual consumer price inflation of approximately 2.5 per cent over time. [...]” The responsibility for implementing monetary policy is delegated to Norges Bank pursuant to the Norges Bank Act and the appurtenant Regulation. The Bank sets interest rates based on our interpretation of the Regulation. In our interpretation, we give weight to the Government’s rationale for the Regulation, to the purpose as expressed in the first section, and to our knowledge about the relationships between the interest rate, the exchange rate, output, employment and inflation. The first sentence in the mandate refers to the value of the krone. Stability in the krone’s internal value implies that inflation must be low and stable. Low and stable inflation contributes to economic growth and to stability in financial and property markets. The Regulation also states that monetary policy shall be aimed at stability in the Norwegian krone’s external value, contributing to stable expectations concerning exchange rate developments.

We trained them to deliver talks to the migrants in their native language on various aspects of using formal remittance channels. This helped not only to address communication barriers, but also encouraged confidence as the migrant workers could better connect and identify with the ambassadors. In our education efforts, bringing our programs to the locations where the migrant community live, work and congregate also had a significantly positive impact on narrowing a perceived power distance between formal MSB providers and workers. It also had the effect of creating a positive impression on the quality of services offered by MSB providers. This was also true for SMEs, with a positive effect observed between higher levels of proactive engagements with SMEs and businesses’ perception of MSBs. 2/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  In short, there are many factors that influence an individual or business decision to use MSB services, beyond cost and access considerations. The combined impact of even simple actions taken to address all factors is significantly amplified. Third, while greater transparency and competition have played a key role in driving down remittance costs, an excessive focus on price competition on the part of MSB companies would be misplaced. Our work under this project, including field studies that were conducted, affirmed that users of remittance services basically want safe, easy and fast, and affordable services. For some customers, safety, speed and convenience are often as, if not more, important than cost, with customers willing to pay a reasonable price for these benefits.