economy ’ s health and, at least, give ofdi the attention it deserves. again it is your leadership and vision in taking your corporations to the next frontier that will take us forward into this new paradigm. your corporations are the engines of this economy, and our economy needs a paradigm shift. i have noted that a few of our corporations have tentatively started venturing into foreign markets. the united arab emirates has been a particularly favored destination. i ’ ve seen many of our brands there, particularly from the textile industry. one of our conglomerates recently acquired a company in the north american market. we know a couple of our banks are extremely keen on entering the indian market. so yes, a few of our more daring enterprises have ventured outside their comfort zone, and i respect them for that. bis central bankers ’ speeches but there is a great deal more that needs to be done. and there is a great deal more that can be done. the current breed of pakistani ceos is the street - smart entrepreneur, who will learn to adapt to any environment. that is going to be our competitive advantage in the global market. once again the challenge is to put your skills to the test on the global stage. i am confident that you will create a new success story with each challenge. i would certainly be remiss in not pointing out that the world today is passing through a turbulent phase that requires a realignment of our leadership approach to managing businesses. today ’ s business leader is faced with a multitude of challenges, both on external and internal fronts. the complexities arising in the eco - system of any business may arise in the shape of macro economic imbalances that include sagging demand, inflation, volatility in financial markets, etc. while demanding situations on the internal front arise from personnel management, investment ambiguity that there are always complex matrices linking external challenges with internal ones and therefore, successful business leaders will never make internal business decisions in isolation. an uniformed business leader is a leader without a vision and quite likely without any success. like any real life crisis, the present turmoil in the financial sector provides an opportunity to learn from the financial world ’ s mistakes and overzealousness. this gives us the opportunity to look back and see what went wrong and structure our own financial houses so that this does not happen to us, or so severely affect the world again. in this regard i feel the most significant lesson that we have learnt from recent events is the importance of fundamentals in

denny h kalyalya : zambian financial sector – responding to the needs of business speech by dr denny h kalyalya, deputy governor - operations of the bank of zambia ; at the opening of standard chartered bank zambia solwezi branch, solwezi, 10 december 2008. * * * the minister of commerce, trade and industry, hon. felix mutati the minister, north - western province, hon. joseph mulyata the chairman of the board of standard chartered bank zambia, mr. george sokota his worship the mayor of solwezi the managing director of standard chartered bank, mrs. mizinga melu distinguished guests members of the press ladies and gentlemen i am pleased to be here at the official opening of the new solwezi branch of standard chartered bank zambia limited. ladies and gentlemen, recent times have shown a proliferation of commercial bank branches in areas which had previously been considered unattractive for business. rural areas had even experienced closures where banks felt that they were unable to establish a case for business. the economic environment that the government created through the reforms instituted in the early 1990 ’ s has given new confidence to investors and has provided an opportunity for businesses to grow, thereby attracting banks to the areas which were deprived of basic financial services. the opening of this branch today, in a town which has attracted major investments, is a demonstration that the financial sector is indeed, now responding to the needs of business. the world ’ s financial markets have been plunged into turmoil which some say is unprecedented, or at least comparable to the levels experienced in the most severe financial crises of the last century. notwithstanding this, our financial system has demonstrated a level of stability which to an extent has been derived from the strong capital positions that have characterised the zambian banking industry in the past few years. however, this turbulence has already resulted in a reduction in projected global economic growth and a decline in demand for africa ’ s exports. notwithstanding this, we remain confident that the banking sector will continue to show resilience and expansion through branch networks, thereby acting as a channel through which services will be extended to the financially excluded. ladies and gentlemen, a recent survey established that fewer than 15 % of the zambian adult population have access to the services provided by commercial banks. the key reasons for this low level of access were cited as the distance that needs to be overcome in order to access the services and the cost of these services. it is therefore a welcome development that commercial