this to this registry service. the central bank has in this regard been supportive of the integrated population registry service ( iprs ). the iprs has been a useful tool for financial institutions to validate the identity of their customers. we have asked all banks to utilise the iprs in their know your customer checks and mitigate fraud risk. the national digital registry will build on the iprs and provide an even more powerful tool for the financial sector and especially for smes. the central bank therefore stands ready to support this important initiative and work with the financial sector to utilise it. through the register, financial institutions will be able to meet the statutory legal and regulatory requirements for anti - money laundering ( aml ) and bis central bankers ’ speeches combatting the financing of terrorism ( cft ) and the common frauds in banks that we see every day. aml / cft has become an issue of global concern and mitigating measures are important to ensure the integrity of kenya ’ s financial sector. ladies and gentlemen : of importance also is the ease of access to credit. a central repository of personal and corporate information will facilitate banks in their credit risk appraisal. this should not only ease access to credit but also reduce the cost of credit given the lower search costs. finally the register will also reduce the risk of fraud particularly identity theft and reduce the operational cost of fraud to the financial sector. these are but a few of the benefits of the national digital registry that i can enumerate and also stress that personal and corporate information and identification in the national digital registry service is a major milestone in completing the financial infrastructure requirements in our country. i am sure that this will be a useful consultation forum and you can count on the central banks ’ support and together we develop a stable and vibrant financial sector. thank you. bis central bankers ’ speeches

growth rate of 50 percent ; the number of bank branches at the end of july 2010 stood at 1, 020 an increase of 24 branches from the end of december 2009 ; the number of bank accounts has increased by 35 percent from 7. 9 million accounts in july 2009 to 10. 7 million as at the end of july 2010. this impressive growth has been supported by the expansion of banks into new market segments, prudent risk management and enhanced economic prospects underpinned by a stable macroeconomic environment. the central bank expects the banking sector to continue on this growth trajectory. ongoing reform initiatives by the government and cbk will serve to further propel the banking sector to new frontiers of financial inclusion for more kenyans. for this reason, the central bank together with kenya bankers association has been keen to move in the directions that market requires support. mr. chairman : we need now to concentrate on reducing costs of doing business for banks so that we can bring down costs of financial services. for example, the recently introduced credit information sharing platform will enable banks to extend more credit to productive sectors boosting wealth and employment creation. the information sharing platform will help develop the required information capital that will support an adoption of a new collateral technology in the market and reduce the information search costs. this will be especially important for small and medium enterprises and individuals who have been constrained in accessing credit due to lack of physical collateral. however, the benefits of credit information sharing will only accrue if banks and other information providers ensure information availed to the bureaus is accurate and credible. it is therefore imperative that banks and their customers and licensed credit reference bureaus continue to work together to ensure accuracy and credibility of records. on its part the central bank will continue to work with other players to extend the reach of the credit information sharing mechanism beyond the banking sector. but so far, we are encouraged with the first batch of information sent to crb africa – 78 percent of it was accurate – with no errors. this shows that the information template reflects the true picture in the banking sector. ladies and gentlemen : the second area in reducing cost of doing business is the cost of rolling out branch networks to reach kenyans cost - effectively. this will work well with the introduction of agent banking. the cbk has so far licensed 5, 892 agents since the roll out in may 2010. ladies and gentlemen : the third area to lower cost of doing business is for you banks – you have to develop innovative products for