been criticised for being too “ oneeyed ”. and norges bank ’ s room for manoeuvre in terms of keeping inflation in check has also, at times, been limited. today, this responsibility has been clearly and unequivocally delegated to norges bank. and this time, confidence in the value of money is not based on a quantity of precious metal, but on the bank ’ s ability to ensure that inflation remains low and stable – confidence that the bank will keep its promise. history has shown that it can be appropriate to delegate responsibility for price stability to a central bank, with its long - term perspective – even in times of turbulence. another of the lessons learned over the past few years is that monetary policy cannot be put on autopilot. as the central bank, we have a responsibility for economic stability. long - term objectives must often be weighed against short - term gains. maintaining the balance can be demanding. a former chair of the federal reserve 4 said that the role of the central bank is to order “ the punch bowl removed just when the party [ is ] really warming up ”. this is a role norges bank must be prepared to take on. but not tonight. the past year has also shown that the bank can ease the burden in difficult times. today ’ s key policy rate is the lowest in the bank ’ s history. when inflation is firmly anchored, monetary william mcchesney martin, jr., ( 1955 ) : address before the new york group of the investment bankers association of america. bis central bankers ’ speeches policy can be used to stimulate output and employment and thereby to some extent facilitate the demanding restructuring facing the norwegian economy today. since the bank was established in 1816, its position has been regulated through specific legislation. but confidence will always be essential for true central bank independence. that confidence is only on loan. changing circumstances require the ability to adapt and think differently, and the same applies to central banks. what matters is results, and how they are achieved. norges bank ’ s first demanding objective – to restore confidence in the monetary system – was achieved and made an important contribution to the success of the nation building process of the 19th century. the chair of the bank ’ s first board of directors, jacob fredrik oxholm, also enjoyed success in other arenas. he was an acclaimed amateur actor – right here in trondheim. the institution he directed – norges bank – is not looking for acclaim and enthusiastic cheering. the

njuguna ndung ’ u : improving access to financial services in kenya address by prof njuguna ndung ’ u, governor of the central bank of kenya, at the launch of airtel money transfer service, nairobi, 10 august 2011. * * * hon. samuel poghisio, minister for information and communications ; dr. bitange ndemo, permanent secretary, ministry of information and communications ; mr. charles njoroge, director general, communications commission of kenya ; n. arjun, airtel chief projects and transformation officer, airtel africa ; rene meza, managing director, airtel kenya ; distinguished guests : ladies and gentlemen : it gives me great pleasure to be here this morning during this historic launch of airtel money transfer service brand into the kenyan financial sector following the successful application early this year by airtel to re - brand and re - launch the service and subsequent approval by the central bank of kenya. ladies and gentlemen : i am informed that the key objective of airtel money brand in line with this launch is twofold : first, to provide a convenient, affordable, and easily accessible money transfer service to kenyans of all walks of life and second, to provide the banked members of the society with a convenient way to access and transact funds held in their bank accounts. this objective is in tandem with the central bank policy on adoption of innovative technological platforms to scale up access to financial services. in fact, mobile phone financial services have in particular presented kenya with an opportunity to significantly upscale access to financial services cost effectively. it has also shown there is a market and everyone now wants a slice of it. ladies and gentlemen : the kenyan mobile phone financial services story has become a much acclaimed global case study. to date, over 17. 8 million kenyans transfer over ksh. 3. 1 billion to each other daily with over 1. 1 million transactions. in particular, and in terms of registered users and agents ’ base, i am informed that airtel controls 18 percent of the registered users and 25 percent of agents. further, i wish to commend airtel for planning to carry out an extensive awareness campaign immediately after this launch in order to stimulate the uptake of the service in addition to the recent extensive country wide agent recruitment exercise by the company. it is my firm belief that this will positively impact on the visibility of the airtel brand in the market. in fact, there are so many areas not yet fully covered out there