ipumbu shiimi : addressing financial inclusion in namibia statement by mr ipumbu shiimi, governor of the bank of namibia, at the official launch of the nam - mic payment solution, windhoek, 24 april 2012. * * * director of ceremonies members of the board of directors of nam - mic payment solution members of the media distinguished invited guests, ladies and gentlemen i am pleased to join you in witnessing the official launch of nam - mic payment solutions, which will be a second mobile payment services provider authorised by the bank. i am equally pleased to note that nam - mic is embracing modern technology to provide value added services to its 200, 000 union members. ladies and gentlemen, the bank welcomes the nam - mic payment solution because it comes at a time when there is a greater need to find accessible, affordable and inclusive payment services to extend financial services to the excluded community. i therefore welcome the “ nam - mic cellcard ” authorised by the bank as an electronic wallet card that will enable payment for goods and services, person - to - person payments, airtime and electricity purchases. the bank has identified financial inclusion to be an important thrust in the bank ’ s developmental role in achieving the ideals of vision 2030. the bank, therefore, has made financial inclusion as one of the key strategic objectives of the bank. at the centre of the bank ’ s agenda to address financial inclusion, is access to financial services and payment services. as you may recall, in 2011, the bank with the banking industry launched the national payment system ( nps ) vision 2015 document. one of the strategies set out in that document, is to increase the accessibility of the payment system by providing for new types of participants, but at the same time maintaining the safety and efficiency of the payment system by adhering to sound internationally accepted payment system risk principles. in line with the nps vision 2015 the bank issued a determination on the issuing of electronic money in namibia which became effective on the 1st of march 2012. this regulation essentially applies to all persons who intend to issue e - money in namibia. both banking institutions and non - bank actors are permitted to apply for authorization to issue emoney. as such any persons operating and / or issuing electronic money without the distinct authorization from the bank of namibia is committing an offence in terms of the payment system management act, of 2003, as amended. the determination on the issuing of electronic money paves the way for the development of innovative solutions which are supported by a

tom alweendo : announcement of the commencement date of the financial intelligence act 2007 speech by mr tom alweendo, governor of bank of namibia, at launching the awareness campaign on provisions of the financial intelligence act 2007, windhoek, 29 april 2009. * * * distinguished invited guests ; members of the media ; ladies and gentlemen ; i would like to welcome all of you to the bank of namibia this morning. the occasion today is to officially launch the commencement of the financial intelligence act and to also launch our public awareness campaign. as you are all by now aware, the financial intelligence act was enacted in 2007. the act empowers the bank of namibia, amongst others to receive suspicious transaction reports from reporting entities, to analyze such reports, and to disseminate the intelligence gathered to law enforcement agencies for further investigation and possible prosecution. the bank is further required to conduct compliance audits with all reporting entities to ensure effective adherence to this act. the key in combating money laundering through the reporting entities is to know who their customers are. if they know their customers well, they will be able to detect attempts at money laundering. in fulfilling this mandate, since 2007 we have been preparing ourselves to be ready with the implementation of the act. in this respect, i am happy to say that we have managed to build the necessary capacity and that we are more than ready to implement the act. due to some legislative delays, the bank was not able to commence with the implementation of the act as early as we would have wished. however, i am happy to report that the commencement date for the act is now set to be the 1st may 2009. in order to educate the public on money laundering, we are also starting with a comprehensive awareness campaign. this is necessary because we are only likely to successfully combat money laundering when the public in general understand as to what is at stake. financial crime, of which money laundering is part, is increasingly becoming a global phenomenon. this is despite the enactment of laws designed to curb financial crime. this is not only a threat to the global financial sector, but if allowed to flourish money laundering has the potential to become a threat to society. it can lead to the accumulation of economic power to organized crime. this development has the potential of eroding our political and social systems based on elected representation as we know them today. in other words, the social consequences for allowing money launderers to operate unchecked could spell disaster for stability and the rule of