central bank of kenya copenhagen fintech week global a sustainable future for shared prosperity keynote address by dr. patrick njoroge governor, central bank of kenya tuesday, september 15, 2020 as prepared for delivery ( 1, 859 words ) good morning, good afternoon, and good evening to you all! let me thank copenhagen fintech lab for organizing this event, the copenhagen fintech week global, and for the invitation to deliver the keynote address. i also confirm that the topic of sustainability was the right bait to get me to participate in this conference. i am delighted to join you, albeit not in the usual face - to - face manner but in what has now become part of our daily experience — digital communication. what better way to discuss the important theme of “ shaping a sustainable future ” than on the very platform that will drive this sustainability? i have fond memories of my visit to copenhagen in april last year. i recall the illuminating discussions i had with innovators and other players in the copenhagen fintech ecosystem. most notably was my visit to the copenhagen fintech lab, which included a test ride on an electric scooter. in the current context of the coronavirus ( covid - 19 ) pandemic my visit seems like a distant world, without the constraints of social distancing, masks, and sanitizing. the invisible enemy covid - 19, crept up on mankind and has almost totally taken over our lives. the health and economic effects have been devastating. across the globe, we have witnessed dramatic loss of life, acute strains on health systems, massive job loss, and disruptions to trade, supply chains and investment flows. the impact has weighed heavily on the vulnerable members of our populations and put a greater burden on women, particularly with schools being shut. micro, small and medium enterprises ( msmes ) have been decimated by the lockdown measures to contain the pandemic. the united nations secretary general ( unsg ) antonio guterres pointed out in a recent speech that the pandemic has put 70 - 100 million people at risk of extreme poverty. thankfully, it has not all been doom - and - gloom, and digitalization has been the silver lining. digital systems and processes have become the lifeline for people and businesses in times of social distancing. digital channels have allowed people to maintain connections, access healthcare and education. they have enabled some msmes to preserve their customers. importantly, digital financing innovations have been critical in responding

other immediate needs that have not been addressed. for the banking industry, examples of such needs are : • lower bank counters for wheelchair - bound customers • “ talking atms ” for the visually impaired • availability of sign language interpreters for the deaf • the need for oku - friendly bank website to enhance their accessibility to e - banking services, which would augur well with the initiative by bank negara malaysia to promote the usage of e - banking. banks are encouraged to provide websites which are w3c compliance. the world wide web consortium ( w3c ) is an international body that provides standards to enhance the web accessibility, enabling people with disabilities to participate equally on the web, such as providing alternative text for images to allow accessibility by the visually impaired, providing text transcript to allow audio information accessible to the hearing impaired, and many other services. for the insurance industry, more needs to be done to provide products that cater for the okus ’ needs and to address the issue of high loading of insurance premium imposed by the insurers. another area for consideration – employment opportunities for okus on another aspect, the government has issued a service circular to implement a 1 % policy on employment opportunities for okus in the public sector as well as provided incentive by giving double tax relief for employers of oku. it is encouraging to note that several financial institutions have provided opportunities for the okus to be employed in the financial industry and recognized that they have the necessary capabilities to contribute to the financial industry. nevertheless, more needs to be done and i hope financial institutions will provide the opportunity for more okus to be employed in the financial industry. global trend - benchmarking with financial sector in other countries showed that they are more advanced on the global front, looking at the trends and initiatives by other countries, especially the developed countries, we observe that the industry associations are very proactive and undertake a leading role in ensuring the okus ’ rights are met. for example, the australian bankers ’ association issued guiding principles for accessible authentication to provide guidance to financial institutions to adopt stronger authentication technologies to facilitate the access of people with disabilities. strong human rights legislation that changed the banking system i would also like to share a landmark case in canada in 1991 where two blind customers were frustrated with their bank when they could not access information about their mortgage bis central bankers ’ speeches and the bank ’ s other services. since they were both blind, they could not read banking information that was only available in printed brochures