of the financial sector. this has been demonstrated by the pensions and insurance authority, the insurers association of zambia as well as securities and exchange commission and the capital markets association of zambia who successfully launched the insurance week under the theme " insurance - solutions for a better tomorrow " and world investor week under the theme " learn more about investor resilience and sustainable finance " earlier this month. i am confident that the key messages disseminated during these events will contribute to raising the levels of financial literacy in the country. be assured that i am committed to supporting the implementation of the national strategy on financial education through such campaigns. ladies and gentlemen the world savings day celebrations would not be successful without recognising individual and organizational contributions towards improving financial literacy in zambia. in this regard, awards will be presented under nine categories namely : 1. exceptional individual contribution to financial education, 2. outstanding theme interpretation ; 3. exceptional leadership in financial literacy ; 4. champions award ; 5. most innovative financial education programme ; 6. outstanding financial literacy footprint ; 7. exceptional financial literacy media outreach ; 8. outstanding initiative by an educator ; and 9. best savings product of the year. i am delighted to grace this year's world savings day award presentation and wish the nominated participants all the best. in conclusion, i would like to thank the organisers and stakeholders under our partnership arrangement, in particular, the bankers association of zambia, securities and exchange commission, pensions and insurance authority, rural finance expansion programme and dsik for their continued support to the world savings day celebrations every year. thank you 3 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches 4 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches

dimiter kostov : the world of finance is becoming more it address by mr dimiter kostov, deputy governor of the bulgarian national bank, banking department and fiscal services department, before the participants in the 14th financial it forum “ the world of finance is becoming more it ”, sofia, 19 april 2012. * * * ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the bulgarian national bank, i have the honour to congratulate you with the opening of the 14th financial it forum. this forum has established itself as an annual opportunity to share experience and ideas, and to view the prospects opened to the financial sector by the information and communication technologies. these results are undoubtedly owing to the organizers of the event, but what is of no less importance is your interest to it. from the point of view of the business, times are still hard for financial intermediation. in the conditions of volatile international financial markets and an unstable economy, the bulgarian banking system is coping well with the challenges and remains stable. the levels of capital adequacy and liquidity remain high. irrespective of the increased impairment costs the banking system continues generating positive results. it is of no little importance, too, that in these conditions the banking system managed to preserve and even to slightly increase its loan portfolio. in the recent three years the economic activity in the country has contracted by about 3 percent, while the loan portfolio not only did not contract, but grew by about 8 percent. the results achieved indicate that in this difficult macroeconomic environment the banking system has not only preserved its reliability, but has continued to perform its economic role of financial intermediary. another positive trend is especially worth noting, prompted by this forum. banks are not focusing only on coping with current issues and obstacles. regardless of the difficulties, banks are putting much thought and effort into developing and implementing new business solutions and products based on the opportunities offered by the information and communications technologies. new solutions are sought not only in the area of good management of risks and business processes, but also in developing new services and sales channels. i would not allow myself to give examples from the experience of one or another bank. the forum will provide plenty of opportunities to find this out for yourselves. i will use as illustration of my words the payment infrastructure. the connectivity achieved by the operator of the main retail payment systems in this country in the past year, presently makes available to the bulgarian banks the so - called sepa connectivity to several thousand banks in the european union