bank in the preparation of monetary policy and analysis of the stability of the financial market. banking operations the bank of finland is the banks ’ bank ( slide 11 ). it implements the eurosystem ’ s monetary policy in finland through its own monetary policy operations in cooperation with its finnish counterparties, generally banks. the bank of finland safeguards the domestic financial system ’ s liquidity management and handles payment transfers between banks. banking operations also covers the management of the bank ’ s own financial reserves ( such as currency reserves ) and the prudent and lucrative investment of the bank ’ s share of ecb capital. maintenance of currency supply the bank of finland is responsible for currency supply management in finland and works to improve the quality, efficiency and security of the currency supply system ( slide 12 ). the bank issues new euro bank notes and coins in finland. it is also responsible for ensuring the authenticity and quality of the money in use in the country by removing counterfeit and damaged notes from circulation. the bank of finland has ongoing cooperation with companies specialized in banking and cash distribution services. bis central bankers ’ speeches the bank of finland and the eurosystem finland ’ s monetary unit is the euro. all eu countries that have adopted the euro belong to the euro area ( 17 countries, 1 january 2011 ). the central banks of these countries, together with the european central bank ( ecb ), form the eurosystem ( slide 13 ). the bank of finland is finland ’ s national central bank and a member of the eurosystem. it participates in the preparation and decision - making of the ecb ’ s monetary policy and is responsible for monetary policy implementation in finland ( slide 14 ). the eurosystem operates under the leadership of the european central bank. the highest decision - making body of the eurosystem is the governing council of the ecb. the governor of the bank of finland participates in monetary policy decision - making as a member of the ecb governing council ( slide 15 ). each of members is in the meetings as a person, not advocating any issues for his or her institution or country. the eurosystem ’ s objectives are price stability and support for general economic policy. its main principles are independence, accountability and transparency ( slide 16 ). the monetary policy stance is set for the euro area as a whole, not for any single country. dear guests, let me know move to the economic outlook of finland. we are in the midst of preparing our next economic

. the act also gives necessary legal coverage to prism. sbp is also framing the requisite rules and regulations for the smooth operations and participation in prism. progress in electronic payment systems there has been substantial improvement in the payment system infrastructure and consumers ’ payment patterns over the last few years, particularly in urban areas, which is evident from the exponential growth in automated teller machines ( atm ) cards, debit & credit cards, atm outlets, points of sales ( pos ) accepting payments through cards and number of online branches of commercial banks providing swift intra bank account to account funds transfer facilities and the interconnectivity of the two atm switches viz. the mnet and 1 - link. with the strategic focus of sbp to develop a well functioning and efficient payment system in the country coupled with rapid technological changes, the pace of growth in payment system infrastructure will further accelerate in the medium term and its outreach will extend to even smaller towns. this will enable a larger number of consumers to use the enhanced and extended payment system infrastructure, and will bring greater efficiency and cost effectiveness in the system. figure 5. 1 : growth online branches network the online branch network is also expanding at a fast pace and reached to 3, 265 at the end of dec 2005 from 2, 475 at the end of the preceding year, indicating an impressive increase of 32 percent or 790 branches. the addition of 315 branches into the online network in the fourth quarter is signalling further acceleration in the pace of growth of the online branches. the coverage of online branches as a percentage of total branches ( 7, 245 branches ) has now reached 45 percent. at this pace, the whole branches network of the banking system will be online in the very near future, which will substantially improve efficiency of the payment system. point of sale transactions usage of cards at pos is expanding with the passage of time. this channel recorded remarkable growth of 62 percent in number of transactions, to 13 million transactions in fy05 from 8 million in the previous year. value of transactions grew by 56 percent to rs 42. 8 billion in fy05 from rs27. 4 billion in fy04. figure 5. 3 : number of cardholders conclusion the gtb concept though newer to pakistani banks, will help service the ever growing need for pakistan ’ s trade & finance and facilitate investors ’ awareness to the growing pakistani economy & markets. we see inter - exchanges like this to further strengthen the transaction banking business in pakistan. sbp is