note. first, the traditional model of commercial banking involves establishing long term relationships with customers and supplying a range of financial services to their customers. this enables banks to mobilise deposits more cheaply and to reduce the costs of transactions, thus making lending more commercially viable. the traditional model of commercial banking also provides synergies between different types of financial services – payments, deposits, and loans – which allow banks to realise economies of scope. digitalization threatens to disrupt the traditional model of commercial banking. page 4 of 7 in particular, digitalization may enable non - bank service providers to encroach into the market for some of the key services offered by banks. for example, telecom companies can offer payment services through mobile money. this will diminish the incentives for the public to hold demand deposits in banks, which in turn threatens to erode the banks ’ primary source of low cost funds. secondly, the adoption of digital technologies will transform the spectrum of risks which banks face. in traditional banking business models, operational risks are relatively minor compared with credit risk or market risk, but this will not be the case for banking services which are dependent on digital platforms for their delivery. banks will be exposed to the risk that their digital platforms will suffer breakdowns, which will disrupt the provision of services to their customers. they will also face risks of cyber fraud perpetrated on their customers ’ accounts. ensuring that their it systems are resilient and that their customers ’ accounts can be protected from cyber fraud should be a priority for commercial banks. banks cannot afford to lose the trust of their customers with respect to the safety of their accounts. page 5 of 7 digitalization will thus add a new layer of complexity to the risk management of banks. thirdly, digitalization will have major implications for the skill requirements of bank staff. banks will need to employ staff with highly specialized it expertise who can maintain their it systems and rectify faults in these systems very quickly, to avoid disruption of services to their customers. clearly people with these types of skills are in scarce supply on the labour market in east africa. the demands on managerial staff will also evolve. bank managers will need to develop a good understanding of how their it systems work and how they link into the overall operations of banks, so that they can identify where operational risks are likely to arise from and make strategic decisions about the use of it systems. over the course of the next five days, you will hear a variety of presentations from experts in

willem f duisenberg : maastricht and the future of europe speech by dr willem f duisenberg, president of the european central bank, at the presentation of a stamp commemorating the ten - year anniversary of the maastricht treaty, bundesfinanzministerium, berlin, 22 october 2003. * * * dr eichel, dr genscher, dr waigel, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, it is a great honour for me to make one of my final public appearances as president of the european central bank on the occasion of the launch of a “ sonderpostwertzeichen ” - a special stamp - to commemorate the treaty on european union, better known as the maastricht treaty. it is not as a dutchman that i consider this treaty to be one of the most important milestones of the european integration process, but as a truly convinced european. together with the governing council of the ecb, i have been responsible for managing the single monetary policy and the single currency of the euro area, and i will not deny that my job has been inextricably linked to the wider historical process of building an “ ever closer union ” of the peoples of europe. in this respect, i consider that the maastricht treaty embodies the most decisive impulse in the deepening of the european communities established in the 1950s and strengthened by the treaty of rome. the move to economic and monetary union ( emu ) was a profoundly political act - despite the fact that the underlying rationale was predominantly economic, namely that a single market requires a single currency. having been instrumental in laying the foundations for the euro, the principles of the maastricht treaty will remain vital for the successful functioning of emu. the medium - term macroeconomic policy framework laid down in the maastricht treaty has contributed to a stable macroeconomic environment, and will continue to do so. in addition, the treaty provides for a clear allocation of responsibilities between eu institutions and member states, as well as clear mandates for all involved. the maintenance of price stability ( the ecb ’ s primary objective ), the independence of the eurosystem and the provisions safeguarding fiscal discipline, in particular as enshrined in the stability and growth pact, are among the hallmarks of this framework. furthermore, the path towards participation in the euro area mapped out in the maastricht treaty, focusing on sustainable economic convergence as