effect that this position had on foreign investments into south africa and the assessment of domestic economic conditions of international rating agencies. the nofp was accordingly reduced from the peak oversold position of us $ 23, 2 billion at the end of september 1998 to an overbought position of us $ 0, 9 billion at the end of july 2003. the reserve bank then shifted its focus to reducing its oversold forward book and to gradually strengthen the official foreign exchange reserve position. as a result of the appreciation in the exchange rate of the rand, the oversold forward book of the reserve bank amounting to us $ 4, 1 billion at the end of july 2003 and was quickly turned around to an overbought position of us $ 38 million at the end of february 2004. the official foreign exchange reserves of the country was also increased from us $ 7, 6 billion at the end of december 2002 to us $ 10, 0 billion at the end of april 2004. it is now the objective of the reserve bank to increase its foreign reserves further in a gradual manner whenever the underlying circumstances allow it to do so. 6. the financial sector in the period of political and economic isolation during the 1980s the domestic financial sector continued to grow rapidly. many improvements were made to the regulatory framework such as the creation of a uniform legal framework for all deposit - taking institutions ; the establishment of appropriate structures for the markets in new financial instruments ; and the revision to rules governing the marketing of equities, bonds and derivatives. moreover, the authorities endeavoured to promote proper risk management procedures and internationally accepted principles with the objective to preserve the soundness of financial institutions. the efforts made to maintain an effective and efficient financial sector were hampered by the lack of co - operation with foreign regulators due to the political circumstances at that time. as a consequence, some regulations and practices started to deviate from international best practices. with the re - establishment of normal relations with the rest of the world in the 1990s, great efforts were made to bring the rules and regulations on the activities of financial institutions in line with international norms and standards. from 1994 south african financial institutions started operating on an increasing scale in major international financial centers as well as opening branches or subsidiaries in other african countries. as part of this process, five large domestic companies transferred the primary listing of their stock to foreign bourses. this change gave them greater access to capital resources at lower cost and provided them with opportunities to promote their core business into other countries and regions. all

daniel mminele : south african national payment system framework and strategy document – vision 2015 opening remarks by mr daniel mminele, deputy governor of the south african reserve bank, on the occasion of the launch of the south african national payment system framework and strategy document – vision 2015, pretoria, 12 september 2011. * * * good day ladies and gentlemen. thank you for accepting our invitation to the launch of the south african national payment system framework and strategy document – vision 2015. the mandate of the south african reserve bank ’ s national payment system department ( npsd ) to oversee the payment system, emanates from the enabling legislation which is the south african reserve bank act, 1989 ( act no. 90 of 1989 – sarb act ). section 10 ( 1 ) ( c ) of the sarb act makes provision for the bank to perform such functions, implement such rules and procedures and, in general, take such steps as may be necessary to establish, conduct, monitor, regulate and supervise payment, clearing or settlement systems. during 1995 the bank published its first south african national payment system framework and strategy document – vision 2005. the vision 2005 document spanned a 10 - year period and contained strategies to modernise the south african national payment system ( nps ) and to align the domestic nps developments with international best practice. with the achievement of the major milestones and objectives envisaged in this document, a process was embarked upon to re - evaluate the nps vision, which process culminated in the strategy document published in april 2006, referred to as vision 2010. the vision 2010 focused, inter alia, on access for bank and non - bank participants, oversight of the nps, enhanced security and operational resilience in the nps, regional and international participation in payment system development, as well as increasing awareness of the features nps. the key strategic objectives outlined in the vision 2010 document have similarly been implemented and achieved. in late 2009 and early 2010, the npsd embarked on an extensive consultation and factfinding process to determine any new challenges facing the nps, and to establish if refinements to the strategic direction of the nps were required. payment systems are by nature dynamic and fast changing, and various challenges emerged nationally and internationally. it was decided that due to the demands and challenges facing the nps, a refinement of the strategic direction was required. the purpose of this framework is to provide a high - level updated strategic direction for the payment system up