rests crucially on setting the right policies to safeguard economic and financial stability. for this, i have an excellent team of people with the knowledge and experience to help me deal effectively with the risks and the challenges. on the financial stability side, the team is headed by dr. bandid nijathaworn, and on the monetary stability side, by dr. atchana waiquamdee, both of whom are here with me today. and with the excellent cooperation from our colleagues in the financial sector, i am confident that the banking sector and the economy will continue to make solid and sustainable progress. in closing, i would like to express my sincere appreciation to all of you who have contributed to our progress through your frank and candid dealings with us ; and the competition you have infused into the banking system that has benefited consumers and served the business community at large. indeed, orderly market competition is the most potent economic force that fosters progress. i hope that we will continue to build on this great relationship. ladies and gentlemen, tomorrow, march the first, the bank of thailand will implement a final review of the reserve requirement measure to give more flexibility to investors. fully hedged capital inflows for the purchases of bonds, mutual fund shares, and property fund shares will be exempted from the reserve requirement. in essence, all investment flows that are until today subject to the reserve requirement will be given a full - hedging option. with this announcement, let me conclude my talk this evening. thank you for your kind attention.

maintain confidence in regional financial systems. allow me, therefore, to commend cisna ’ s efforts in harmonising standards in regional markets, particularly in insurance, pensions, and capital markets. chairperson, ladies and gentlemen, you may wish to know what malawi is doing with respect to improving the regulatory environment for our financial sector and non - banks, in particular. the process of formulating financial sector bills is in its final stages. these include the financial services, the retirement funds, the microfinance, the financial cooperatives, and the securities bills. there are also payment systems and credit reference bureau bills being processed which will also facilitate and support further development of the financial sector. in addition, the insurance act and the banking act have undergone rigorous scrutiny and review. once these bills are passed into laws, they will provide us with a stronger mandate and enabling regulatory frameworks for the regulation and supervision of the entire financial sector. i therefore wish to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to the ministry of finance and the ministry of justice for their useful contribution in the formulation of these bills. the reserve bank has, however, been the lead institution the formulation of these bills and i thank the team involved. i wish to encourage them not to relax but to continue working hard until these bills are enacted into laws. upon enactment of the bills, the reserve bank is expected to take on board the regulation and supervision of microfinance and pension plans, in addition to insurance, capital markets and banks. i must say, we are aware of the challenges lying ahead. however, it is my hope that conferences of this nature do provide solutions to such challenges. i therefore call upon all the distinguished delegates to consider this conference as a rare opportunity for sharing experiences on regulation and supervision of non - bank financial institutions. chairperson, ladies and gentlemen, you may ask yourselves why sadc, and indeed malawi, should bother about enabling regulatory frameworks? recall an african saying which goes “ umanena chatsitsa dzaye kuti njobvu ithyoke mnyanga. ” if we consider the recent financial crisis, then the question would be “ where did countries slip ”? many countries in the developed world are now calling for a review of the regulatory infrastructure because the general feeling is that it caused the financial crisis. recent developments in global financial markets strongly suggest the importance of effective regulatory regimes for financial markets. misguided regulation can have adverse repercussions on the financial sector, and indeed the