www. boz. zm. allow me to reiterate that the intention of the balance of payments regulations are merely to monitor the flow of funds in and out of the republic with the ultimate aim to provide more accurate data to facilitate decision making on the national economy. managing director, the bank of zambia will continue to implement and monitor various regulatory measures aimed at enhancing the operations of the banking sector and efficiency in the wider economy and remains committed to support all efforts to reduce the cost of doing business in zambia. distinguished ladies and gentlemen, allow me to conclude my remarks by reminding commercial banks that they must become proactive in identifying new markets and developing appropriate new products and services, especially for the excluded population if they have to remain competitive and relevant in our fast growing banking sector. as has been echoed at various meetings, the bank of zambia has financial inclusion as one of its strategic objectives and initiatives by market players to make this vision a reality are always highly commended. the bank of zambia will play its own role and make every effort to create an environment that supports innovation and market developments by financial institutions. managing director, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, it is therefore, the bank of zambia ’ s expectation that zanaco and other banks will take advantage of opportunities arising from the general positive economic outlook on account of improving macroeconomic conditions and improvements so far recorded in various sectors of the economy and foster greater developments in the financial sector. finally, let me extend my gratitude to the board of directors and the managing director of zanaco inviting me on this occasion to mark the official launch the ndola west branch. it now my honour and privilege to declare the ndola west branch officially opened. i thank you. bis central bankers ’ speeches

niklaus blattner : financial market infrastructures facing technological, economic and regulatory challenges summary of a speech by mr niklaus blattner, deputy chairman of the governing board of the swiss national bank, at the xi awk group financial services lunch, zurich, 20 september 2006. the complete speech can be found in german on the swiss national bank ’ s website ( www. snb. ch ). * * * smoothly and efficiently functioning financial market infrastructures form the backbone of the international financial centre of switzerland. the future of these infrastructures will largely hinge on trends in europe, which point to stronger consolidation. however, healthy competition is the prerequisite for investment and innovation incentives in a consolidated stock market and settlement environment. this would also contribute to reducing the existing inefficiencies, in particular with regard to the processing of cross - border transactions. yet a competitive environment will develop only if market participants can choose freely among the different providers and if the infrastructures are interoperable, i. e. if the providers grant each other and their participants mutual non - discriminatory access. at present, competitive obstacles exist at the technological, economic and regulatory levels. for instance, costs for changing providers are high. moreover, financial market infrastructures are often operated in “ silo ” mode – either explicitly or implicitly – with clearing and settlement being handled by only one provider. but silos impede competition. a suitable regulatory framework must therefore be created to strengthen competition. the eu ’ s new markets in financial instruments directive ( mifid ), for example, is expected to bring about important changes and intensify competition in the european financial market. this development will also influence the future of financial market infrastructures in switzerland. against this background, it is certainly crucial for the swiss financial market infrastructures to persistently foster their competitiveness. they have pursued this strategy so far, and will need to continue doing so in the future.