guidance and infusion of expertise during the conference. third, i wish to welcome and appreciate the efforts of those that will moderate and lead the discussions during the conference. i expect that their preparatory work, effective leadership of sessions, and animated dialogue on the relevant issues will stimulate and contribute to beneficial sharing of expertise and perspectives on both the benefits and challenges of harnessing fintech. to all delegates, local and from outside botswana, i have no doubt that the diversity in this room will surely enrich and add to the value and benefit of the conference in terms of both inputs into the deliberations and implementable takeaways for policy and regulation, as well as ideas for innovation, with respect to business development and service provision. indeed, the idea of the conference is to propagate and entrench, globally, the broad themes of the bali fintech agenda, which you will get to hear about over the next one and half days. for this reason, similar conferences, led by the international monetary fund, are being held in other regions. the cross - participation by policymakers, regulators and private sector practitioners in these conferences also enriches networking and the sharing of ideas ; thus a common view, globally, about the prospects for fintech and, where there are potential systemic and global challenges, inculcate forward - looking preparations for both localised and coordinated, cross - border mitigation approaches. in this regard, i wish to note that, as a practical approach, the sadc region has established a fintech regional monitoring group comprising representatives from the respective central banks. this is intended to build institutional knowledge of fintech developments on an ongoing basis and, therefore, continually provide the sadc committee of central bank governors with a comprehensive picture of existing and emerging technologies, the application and market penetration of these technologies, as well as the attendant risks. we, therefore, look forward to hearing your thoughts on the broad range of areas that are relevant for balancing fintech opportunities and risks. i acknowledge and fully appreciate, in this respect, that the effort by the international monetary fund to lead the integration of fintech into the global development and policy agenda provides for a useful, knowledgeable and accessible partner to support the domestication of this agenda. having said that, i take it you will agree with me that, while policy and regulation can guide and safeguard, at the end of the day, the more impactful and beneficial aspect of fintech should be on private business activity and associated

; since the start of the year alone it has increased by approximately 40 basis points. interest rates, which have reached a relatively lower level in this country, to some extent mitigate the economic burdens associated with the appreciation. they have probably also contributed to the slight recovery of the euro vis - a - vis the swiss franc in the past few days. in the first half of 2002, capital market rates were influenced by economic expectations in the united states. the positive economic data in march triggered a vigorous rise in long - term us interest rates by approximately 50 basis points within a very brief time. with economic indicators below expectations since april, long - term yields fell back to their mid - 2001 level. the expectations reflected in the futures markets concerning the development of money market rates – and therefore also monetary policy – have undergone a marked downward adjustment, notably for the us dollar, but also for the euro and the swiss franc. hopes of a vigorous and rapid economic recovery have given way to a more realistic assessment. the snb as asset manager in the context of its statutory mandate, the national bank manages sizeable assets ( table 1 ). in may 2002, their market value exceeded sfr 100 billion. the free assets ( sfr 21 billion ) are to be withdrawn from the national bank and allocated to other purposes. mr blattner will provide details on the management of the free assets. the monetary assets ( sfr 86 billion ) serve monetary purposes. claims from repo business ( sfr 16 billion ) reflect our money market activities on the assets side of the balance sheet, while swiss franc securities ( sfr 5 billion ) are available for absorption repos if necessary. foreign exchange reserves ( sfr 41 billion ) are at the centre of our activity as asset managers. at the end of 1997, the leeway previously granted solely for money market investments was legally extended. this provided a possibility to spread fixed - interest investments more evenly across various maturities and currencies and to widen the range of instruments. among the currencies ( graph 1 ), the us dollar and the euro predominate with shares of 42 % and 46 % respectively. the maturities of the investments extend over the entire interest rate curve, with the average maturity being around five years. in the debtor categories, government paper predominates, accounting for a share of more than 50 %. the rest comprises claims against international organisations and banks or bank - like borrowers with an above - average