mr. stals discusses financial sector reforms and their implications for the banking industry in south africa address by the governor of the south african reserve bank, dr. c. stals, at the official opening of the new head office building for mercantile bank in sandton on 9 / 4 / 97. 1. the need for financial sector reforms in many countries in the world there is at this stage a need for major reforms of the financial sector, which invariably holds important changes for the banking industry. looking around the world, at least three reasons can be found for financial restructuring. firstly, there are the countries of central and eastern europe where major transitions are taking place in the economies of the former centrally - planned countries of the now defunct communist world. the transition from socialist to market - oriented economies requires in most of these countries a major reform of the functions and of the role of the central bank, the introduction of private sector banking institutions driven by the profit motive, the development of financial markets, and the acceptance of macroeconomic monetary policies that played no role in the previously centrally - planned systems. in these countries, it was necessary to introduce certain basic minimum requirements first, such as a recognised system of business laws including corporate, bankruptcy, contract, consumer protection and private property laws that can be consistently enforced and will provide a mechanism for fair resolution of disputes. in most of these countries until a few years ago there did not exist well - defined accounting principles and rules, and independent auditors were not available to certify financial statements and accounts of banking institutions. in summary, the public infrastructure for the management and running of modern banking activity did not exist and had to be established before modern financial market systems could be developed. secondly, a number of developing countries, particularly from the african continent, have recently embarked on major macroeconomic restructuring programmes, in many cases in collaboration with the international monetary fund and the world bank. in a recent publication of the united nations economic commission for africa the need for the reform of the financial sectors of african economies was described as follows : “ financial systems in africa are characterized by the low level of financial intermediation which takes place in the formal sector, the distressed nature of financial institutions, the high risk profile of financial asset portfolios due to the concentration of numerous countries ’ economies in only a few commodities and industrial sectors and the vulnerability of financial asset portfolios to price and supply shocks. in addition, very few formal financial institutions have shown the capacity or willingness to provide financial services to

derville rowland : launch of ireland's national payments strategy remarks by ms derville rowland, deputy governor of the central bank of ireland, at the launch of the national payments strategy, dublin, 15 october 2024. * * * i would like to welcome the minister for finance - minister jack chambers td - and everyone here today to the central bank's offices for the launch of the national payments strategy. let me also echo the minister's thanks to all involved in the development of the strategy. in particular, i would like to thank the department's strategy team for their collaboration over the past 16 months, and for providing the central bank with the opportunity to contribute to the development of the strategy. my thanks also to the members of the central bank's payments steering group and the internal expert group who has been supporting the our input into the strategy. call for collaboration the national payments strategy represents a significant milestone for the future development of the irish payments ecosystem. the central bank looks forward to contributing to the successful realisation of the strategy over the next 5 years and beyond. we see the strategy as an opportunity to : ensure that the irish market stays up - to - date with modern payment functionalities and technologies ; put in place initiatives that strengthen the security and resilience of retail payments ; and to ensure that the irish payments ecosystem remains interconnected with the rest of the europe. as the minister has referenced, the strategy outlines a number of ambitious actions that will lay the foundation for the future growth of the irish payments ecosystem. in terms of specific actions i would call out, i would highlight that : the strategy will require cooperation in the advancement of pay - by - account solutions built upon the effective implementation of instant payments and open banking ; and a role for the central bank around a research and insights programme that we will lead. enhancing our research and analytical capabilities is critical to understanding the direction and possible impacts of the future evolution of the irish payments ecosystem. fraud 1 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches another area i will highlight and that relates to the issue of fraud. this is an issue which cuts right across the work of the central bank – from consumer protection, to our work in payments and to our financial integrity / aml work. whilst the volume of payments fraud is quite low in ireland as a percentage of total transactions, nevertheless it can have a detrimental impact on individuals and businesses. as payments evolve, so too do the techniques used by fraudsters. the rise of social engineering