can all sleep in peace knowing that the bank is on the job. on a recent occasion, i expressed my satisfaction at the profitability of our banks and the buoyant economic environment generally. i also expressed my concern about the excessive growth of credit which we were witnessing. i had at the back of my mind the truism that bad loans are made in good times. i was determined to ensure that we do not rediscover this through bitter experience. i am happy to report that the situation is firmly under control. so much so that we are actually envisaging repo operations, for the first time in more than a year, to inject liquidity in the system. the determination of the central bank to press ahead, in spite of criticism, has paid off. if we are happy with the profitability of our banks, we remain concerned about their efficiency and the affordability of their services. for instance, the average return on assets ( roa ) of banks in mauritius last year was 1. 8 per cent, 2 as compared to an roa of 1. 3 per cent in our neighbourhood giant, south africa. while strong earnings are important and the higher roa could point to greater operational efficiency, it could also reflect higher costs being levied on the customer. no doubt more competition leads to better price discovery. we have 19 banks operating in mauritius. although, there is a high degree of market concentration, we do not believe that there is any active collusion among them. to stimulate greater competition and enable customers to make informed choices, we are working with banks to devise a common template for displaying applicable fees, charges and commissions in a comparable manner on their respective web sites. a better - informed customer is the best guarantee of greater efficiency in financial intermediation and the sustainable profitability of our banks. it is a fact of life that some banking transactions will go sour, lead to recrimination, and result in costly and protracted lawsuits. if we are keen to reduce transaction costs, and the cost of doing business generally in mauritius, we must address these issues in a more efficient and timely manner. the provision relating to the ombudsperson for banks in the banking act of 2004 still remains to be implemented. you may reasonably ask why. and we owe an explanation on this score. it is my firm conviction that our jurisdiction is too small to have a multiplicity of source : annual report 2007 : bank supervision department, reserve bank of

target. in this new spring, we need our banks to be promoting fresh growth and enhanced customer services. the confidence of the customer has to be won, retained and constantly refreshed. quality of service is key, as are financial strength, good corporate governance, customer - friendly practices and trust. i am confident that this bank, now under a new name, new ownership and new management, will lead to a fresh flowering of innovation and quality in all these areas. as the banking sector literally explodes, driven by new players and relentless financial innovation, the central bank, which is here to oversee and regulate, cannot remain static in source : ‘ the top one hundred companies ’, business publications ltd 2007 edition, mauritius. the way it is organised and discharges its responsibilities. we at the bank of mauritius must rise to the challenge. my colleagues and i, we must be prepared to leave our comfort zone. we must question our rules, our regulations, our practices, our processes, indeed ourselves. that is the price to pay to achieve our ambition of graduating to the status of a well - regarded international financial centre. that is a price we are prepared to pay. the ambition drives our action. but, as always, some want the end but would deny us the means to achieve it. there are pockets of resistance which are building up steam in an overheated and misguided attempt to cling to the past and derail us from this shared national vision. i have also taken up the challenge of promoting mauritius as a friendly international financial centre. as we must, we are refreshing our core services to confront the new challenges and to tap the new opportunities that beckon. but change - management is never easy. change - management is post - doctoral studies, often conducted under withering and concentrated fire, by kamikaze supporters. doing good by doing better is what ultimately drives these supporters and myself, not any suicidal instinct to commit collective hara - kiri. mr bruno julie, whose feat in the boxing ring in beijing we now celebrate as a nation, well demonstrates the spirit of achievement and the determination which we need to galvanize us. with his bronze medal, bruno julie has got tiny mauritius a coveted place in the hall of fame among the giants of the global sports world. but his incomparable performance led me to a wry reflection which i would like to share with you. on a distinctly less celebratory note, the bank of mauritius and the south east asian