what is required by law. over the years, customers have complained over the lack of transparency in the pricing of products and services by banks. i acknowledge you are making positive steps in this area, but much more remains to be done. this is particularly in the area of credit risk pricing. customers need to be clear on what their credit reference record means for them in the pricing of credit. beyond product pricing, you need to be transparent on your governance, business models and risk and reward trade - offs particularly in respect to compensation policies. and this cannot be driven by enforcement by the regulator. you, the people in this room, must be the ones to go above and beyond the strict interpretation of transparency rules. third, compliance without integrity is futile. compliance with codes of conduct and other means of self - regulation are good. but this is only useful when the focus is on a shared mentality of integrity that goes beyond mere compliance. the mentality of “ we comply ” for compliance sake cannot sustain a business for long. i remind you of another anniversary, but this one of a much more recent event. two weeks ago yesterday, we informed the kenyan people of the action we took against some of you because of non - compliance with integrity laws. make no mistake – it was not easy. we considered all the possible negative outcomes that could be triggered by those actions. ultimately, however, we did not hesitate, and would not hesitate to do it again, under similar circumstances. banks must steer away from being used as conduits for ill - gotten funds. the kenyan people – wanjiku – demand that of us, and will treat us very unkindly, were we to look the other way. the reason why there is such palpable disappointment – i dare say it extends to anger – from the ordinary citizen to you in this room is exactly that. wanjiku feels that her banker prefers expediency to empathy. she feels that her banker would rather hunt for a loophole than show leadership. would rather seek supernormal profit than search for solutions. the old adage about the banker asking for their umbrella back when it starts raining may have been funny once, but not when the rain is this heavy, and when wanjiku already has a flu. so i ask you to reflect on your work, and your conduct. as kenyans, we would rather watch with pride, and gasp in admiration, when eliud kipchoge becomes the fastest marathon

happened ten years ago. she may not speak of “ systemically important financial institutions ” or tell you what a subprime mortgage is. she may not speak eloquently about collateral debt obligations, or calculate the point at which a bond goes from investment grade to junk. but wanjiku, the ordinary citizen that all of us serve, understands some fundamental facts. she understands the fundamental principles of finance, commerce and social interaction. she understands some basic principles that are easily forgotten, ignored, or overlooked in the pursuit of sophistication or profits. the rest of my remarks will expand on this idea. in the recent weeks, there has been extensive debates on the lessons from the global financial crisis and whether the global financial system is now safer. these discussions have also asked whether a sense of exuberance is creeping back into the global financial system, that could unwittingly lead us to the next crisis — another “ minsky moment ” where current booms sow the seeds of a future dramatic collapse. these are questions i will leave for participants of the conference and i would be keen to know your thoughts. in diagnosing the cause of the global financial crisis, a lot of ink has been spilled on the inadequacy of regulation and the trend towards deregulation in the lead up to the global financial crisis. regulation, especially regulation that recognizes and acts on risks, is crucial. and we all appreciate the major drive globally towards strengthening the regulation and supervision of global financial markets. but let ’ s also appreciate the following crucial fact — at its core, the global financial crisis was about human beings. what human beings chose to do and what they chose not to do. at its heart, the global financial crisis was about ethics. ethics is not a financial term and conjures up difference images and responses by for different people and different responses. some in the audience may be thinking : of course my institution is highly ethical — we have rules! our legal team always ensures that we comply to all laws and regulations! we won a governance award the other day! our values are printed and displayed in our headquarters! our email signature tells the world that we are guided by good principles! even more, we are renowned for training our staff rigorously on our code of conduct! while all these may be related to the core message of raising our ethical standards, i believe there is a need to think deeper, dig deeper, and be more earnest on this matter. while