2013 revealed that the level of adult kenyans accessing formal financial services has increased tremendously. this is from 27. 4 % in 2006 to 41. 3 % in 2009 and 66. 7 % in 2013. it is also worth noting that the level of kenyans who access informal financial services has declined from 35. 2 % in 2006 to 26. 8 % in 2009 and to 7. 8 % in 2013. the increase in the level of financial access in kenya is testimony to the success of the reforms and initiatives implemented by the players in the financial sector. ladies and gentlemen : in 2013, geospatial surveys to map financial access points were undertaken in kenya, nigeria, uganda and tanzania. the survey results indicate that kenya is ahead of the other countries in terms of financial access. • 76. 7 % of the kenyan population is now within 5 kilometres of a financial service touch point as compared to 47. 3 %, 42. 7 % and 35. 1 % in nigeria, uganda and tanzania, respectively. • kenya has 65, 353 financial service touch points as compared to 21, 206 ; 20, 229 and 17, 212 financial touch points in uganda, tanzania and nigeria respectively. bis central bankers ’ speeches kenya has 161. 9 financial access touch points serving 100, 000 people as compared to 63. 1, 48. 9 and 11. 4 financial access touch points serving 100, 000 people in uganda, tanzania and nigeria, respectively. • ladies and gentlemen : the automation of bond trading and lengthening of maturity profiles has enabled the country to mobilise substantial resources for the desired infrastructure projects. several infrastructure bonds, which have all recorded unprecedented oversubscription levels, have demonstrated the kenya financial sector ’ s capacity to finance longer term public investment projects, but more importantly, has deepened the financial sector. kenya also successfully issued a debut sovereign bond in 2014 to finance infrastructure projects, ease pressure on domestic interest rates and establish a benchmark for kenyan issuers to tap into the international capital markets. the overwhelming oversubscription recorded in the sovereign bond demonstrates the confidence that foreign investors have on kenya ’ s economy. the 10 - year and 5 - year tranches of the sovereign bond were issued at very competitive interest rates. kenya ’ s aspiration of becoming an international financial centre is on course. following cabinet approval of a broad policy proposal for establishment of the nairobi international financial centre in 2013, h. e. the president through an executive order set up the nairobi international financial

njuguna ndung ’ u : workshop on the compilation of banking statistics in kenya address by prof njuguna ndung ’ u, governor of the central bank of kenya, at the opening of the workshop on the compilation of banking statistics, kenya school of monetary studies, nairobi, 12 june 2007. * * * mr. kevin o ’ connor, consultant imf mr. oliver chinganya, regional advisor, gdds project the representatives of : kenya banker ’ s association ( kba ), institute of certified public accountants of kenya ( icpak ) and central bureau of statistics distinguished participants, ladies and gentlemen, let me first and foremost welcome you all to the kenya school of monetary studies and to this very important workshop on the compilation of banking statistics. i must thank you for taking time off to attend this function. i wish to thank the imf consultant in particular for finding time to participate in this workshop as a resource person. as you may be aware, the imf has played a major role in the development of monetary statistics in kenya and in countries around the world. in particular, the fund, in collaboration with the department for international development ( dfid ), continues to support the general data dissemination system ( gdds ) project which aims at improving the availability and quality of data in developing countries to conform with international standards. kenya, as a country, being part of the gdds project, provides an important avenue for database improvements. this workshop is therefore part of the greater plan towards the improvement of statistics in kenya with the support of these organisations. i thank them for this contribution. ladies and gentlemen, my task today is to open this workshop but before i do that let me draw your attention to the importance of this workshop and statistics in general. you will recall that the financial crisis that hit the asian economies in the early 1990s was partly occasioned by lack of sufficient statistical information on what was going on in the banking system. i am glad therefore that thereafter, the world economies have taken initiatives to ensure that statistical capacities and developments are at the forefront so as to inform decision making at all levels. we at the central bank have not been left behind. over the past few years, the bank has been working on the improvement of monetary and financial statistics to meet the international compilation standards guided by the recommendations of the imf mission on report for observance of standards and codes ( rosc ), and plans for improvements under the gdds project