authority or mandate. our core strategic objectives which represent essential elements of our mission shall continue to evolve around developing capital markets and enhancing stakeholder confidence ; providing a quality, professional supervisory and regulatory service ; ensuring the existence of an all inclusive and regulated financial sector ; and fostering a competitive, cost effective environment in the financial industry. the aim is to safeguard the financial sector and facilitate economic development through broadening and deepening of the capital market. in order to enhance the regulation and supervision of capital markets in line with international developments and standards, the reserve bank initiated the formulation of a new legislation, the draft securities bill. the bill intends to repeal the capital market development act no 17 of 1990 ( cmda ) which is considered to be less comprehensive in terms of coverage. the bill is currently awaiting enactment by parliament. these legislative reforms including the “ retirement funds bill ” will provide an opportunity for new and extra resources in the securities market that will require your expertise to tap them on. mr. chairman, ladies and gentlemen, the coming in of an additional player onto the market will bring competition, increase trading activity and improve price discovery which is an important function of an organized stock market. african alliance securities ltd brings with them a dimension of “ research ” on the listed companies, which appears to be one of their fundamental skills, which has been erratic on the market. thus we believe that credible and high quality research will keep investors more informed about the opportunities on the stock market and therefore stimulate well informed trading activity. we expect healthy competition whose benefits will trickle down to the investors and consumers of financial services. mr chairman, ladies and gentlemen, before i end my speech, let me take this opportunity to express a concern. last year ( 2008 ), the reserve bank received reports of fraud relating to share certificates allegedly perpetrated by senior members of the brokerage houses. clearly, the reports tarnished the image of the market. while the market did not suffer severe damage, we wish to advise all players to ensure that there are internal controls within your institutions, to adhere to best corporate governance standards and to ensure that procedures are followed when handling clients ’ funds. let me appeal to african alliance and all other market professionals to continually invest in their employees to ensure high standards in the market. lastly, but not least, i wish to advise all capital market professionals to timely comply with the requirements of the capital market development act and its subsidiary legislation. mr chairman, ladies and gentlemen, with these few remarks, i wish to

entire economy. it is for this reason that sadc must maintain high standards of regulation for our financial markets. the chairperson, ladies and gentlemen, i note from the conference program that you will also reflect on the impact of the financial crisis on the sadc region. this is commendable as it is a subject of interest to everyone. with these remarks, it is now my pleasure and privilege to declare the conference for the committee of insurance, securities and non bank financial authorities officially open. distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attention.