reserve bank of fiji welcome remarks by the reserve bank of fiji governor and chairman of the national financial inclusion taskforce, mr ariff ali 2017 national microfinance awards, 28 may 2018, rbf, suva salutations the permanent secretary for industry & trade and tourism ; members of the reserve bank of fiji board ; members of the national financial inclusion taskforce ; sponsorship partners ; 2017 national microfinance awards finalists ; distinguished guests ; ladies and gentlemen. welcome bula vinaka and a very good afternoon to you all. it is my pleasure to welcome you to this function today, a special occasion where we recognise our champions in the micro enterprise sector. please accept our humble apologies for the deferment from the initial schedule to have it in the later part of last year. i wish to specifically welcome our finalists for whom this occasion is all about. thank you for your determination and perseverance to make your goals and dreams a reality in the different businesses that you have established and are now operating. for a developing country like fiji, the potential for the micro reserve bank of fiji enterprises sector to be a driver of economic growth cannot be underestimated, and we therefore truly appreciate how the businesses we are recognising today have led the way in this regard. i acknowledge, and would like to express our sincere gratitude to all our generous sponsors without whose support we would have not been able to organise, and give out today ’ s awards : the gold sponsors - anz bank and pacific financial inclusion programme ( pfip ) ; silver sponsor - life insurance corporation of india ( lici ) ; and bronze sponsors - bank south pacific, bank of baroda and hfc bank. we welcome you to this afternoon ’ s function and thank you very much for your continuous support and partnership in recognising the contributions of our microbusinesses. role of the reserve bank for close to three decades, the reserve bank of fiji has worked closely with government, development partners and the private sector to find ways of improving the sme sector ’ s access to finance and enhancing the sector ’ s contribution to the economy. in 1996, the rbf in collaboration with the undp hosted a national conference on microfinance which initially led to the set - up of the microfinance unit in government, which has grown into the national centre for small and micro enterprises development ( ncsmed ). the bank ’ s support to develop microfinance in fiji is not without challenge,

. amputch. the committee ’ s broad terms of reference were to “ consider the adequacy of existing building standards as prescribed by law and make recommendations for improvements ”. in 1985, the government of fiji officially charged the fbsc with the responsibility of coordinating the preparation of the national building code. the committee was also charged with the responsibility of exercising surveillance and control on the standards of building materials imported into the country. the development of the national building code was funded and carried out through australian aid, while the operations of the fbsc consisted of the initial contributions from government and the private sector. in 1990, the australian government handed over the draft documents of the fiji national building code and the home builders manual to the fbsc, upon which the committee approved in principle the technical aspects of the draft documents submitted. the administration of the fbsc was later transferred to the ministry of trade and commerce in 1993 due to the enactment of the fair trading and quality control decrees. in october 2004, the fiji national building code was passed in parliament, however falling within the ambit of the fiji public health act cap 111. why is the national building code important to our role as the supervisor of the fiji insurance industry? as we all know, fiji is prone to natural disasters like any other country and insurance provides a means of sharing the risks or losses resulting from such disasters. in order to be insured, one must meet the underwriting standards of insurers, which include being nbc compliant, a condition set by reinsurers, as alluded to earlier. therefore, the national building code is the “ bridge ” providing the link between the insured, insurer and reinsurer. meeting the requirements of the national building code is so important these days that even lenders require projects to be nbc compliant and insured, before funding is approved. it can bis central bankers ’ speeches be noted therefore, that compliance with the national building code and insurance industry guidelines contributes to the reduction in economic and financial losses. the reserve bank ’ s role as the supervisor / regulator is to contribute to public confidence in fiji ’ s financial system and safeguarding insurance policyholders and bank depositors from undue financial loss. to be an effective supervisor, the reserve bank participates in various forums to communicate with the industry and the public on its expectations amongst other forms of public medium such as publications, press releases and workshops. regulating engineers the profession of engineering is similar to that of accounting, medicine, law