settle payments not only in local currency but also in major international currencies, the first of its kind in sub - saharan africa at that time. the automation of the port louis clearing house constituted the second phase of the modernisation of the payment systems. this phase required, as a pre - requisite, the standardisation of cheques using magnetic ink character recognition. this process was completed in 2003 and led to the electronic settlement of cheques. the last leg of the second phase consisted of carrying out clearing of cheques based on the electronic images of cheques, known as cheque truncation, and was completed in september 2011. honourable prime minister, through this initiative, the bank supports the development of mauritius into a digital economy. maucas is a payment ecosystem designed to benefit all stakeholders of the payment industry, from end - customers to merchants and service providers as well as the government. maucas will be a game changer in the way payments are carried out in mauritius and creates many firsts in mauritius : as the first national payment platform to operate round the clock, a feature attributable to a handful of countries in sub - saharan africa, maucas effects retail payments outside official operating hours. this will change the dynamics of currency circulation in the country, reduce float in the system and allow banks and businesses to manage their liquidity more efficiently. it sets rolling the instant payments system, which will enable customers to effect transfers between any two accounts in any two institutions within seconds. instant payment services will also comprise instant direct debits and credits. it introduces the concept of dissociating an account from a payment service. thus, any person can avail the service offered by any operator, bank or non - bank, and tie it with an existing account in another bank. this will allow new payment services to emerge while letting banks maintain their customer base. maucas allows non - bank payment service operators to access selected account details of their customers in banks through the bank of mauritius under strict security norms. this provision represents our adherence to the european payment service directive 2, which sets the legal framework for banks to open their core banking systems through application programming interfaces ( apis ). maucas which is api enabled, will permit operators to come up with open banking solutions. it introduces the concept of payment through alias, where customers make payments through easy to remember pseudonyms such as email addresses while keeping account numbers safe and secure. the alias feature of mauca

attracted hateful criticisms. the tendency of some groups, like a special - forces warrior, to fight every new regulation had reached a vexing point. despite resistance from pressure groups to resist, the bank had proceeded with its regulatory reforms and soldiered on effectively. it took quite some time for players in our economic system to fully realise that banking is a different kind of business and financial systems are not and will never be totally free market systems. over the years much has been achieved in terms of the health improvement of deposit - taking institutions in the country. effective banking supervision is an evolving discipline. free flows of capital in a globalised world marked by all kinds of disruptions, unleashed by economic and non - economic forces, the quests for high returns by investors and quick profits by speculators, fraudulent practices, excessive risk - taking and violent economic cycles, amongst others, have made regulation and supervision of financial institutions an unprecedentedly challenging task. the regulator ’ s job has become increasingly complex and demanding in terms of skills and clairvoyance, more so after the august 2007 international financial crisis. as regulators, we need to constantly bear in mind that any capitalist economy inevitably progresses from conservative finance to reckless speculation. the economy has financing regimes under which it is stable and financing regimes under which it is unstable. in other bis central bankers ’ speeches words, over a period of prosperity, a capitalist economy transits from financial relations that make for a stable system to financial relations that make for an unstable system. we also need to bear in mind that it ’ s in the personal interests of the ceos of banks to show profits, often by any means, for the benefit of their shareholders. and it is simply not true that the pursuit of their individual interests will lead to financial stability. what ’ s good for an individual ceo may not be necessarily good for the banking industry as a whole. the self - interests of bankers and levered investors do occasionally lead to economic contractions and a loss of human welfare. i need not emphasise to a crowd like this one that financial stability is an indispensable precondition for economic growth and human welfare. there is every reason for regulatory authorities to act proactively in order to prevent financial crises from developing in the first place. with the recent experience that the bank of mauritius had with regard to an ailing bank, i cling to the view that regulators must broaden their scope and take initiatives to prevent the development of practices that favour financial