of capabilities among the financial industry professionals. going forward, the investment in this core pillar will be a defining factor in the performance and the capacity of the industry to reinvent and transform and thus enhance its resilience and sustainability. the path forward needs to be guided by a strategic response to the forces that are shaping the new talent landscape. there is now an increased demand for highly - skilled knowledge workers that are able to meet the changing requirements of an increasingly globalised and borderless workplace. more interconnected businesses within national economies and across the globe have also increased expectations for employees to be highly versatile and able to adapt to the fast changing conditions. talent mobility has therefore increased substantially not only across geographical boundaries, but also across sectors, as the demand for talent in financial services by the energy, telecommunications, software and bis central bankers ’ speeches consultancy sectors are likely to increase over time. organisations including financial institutions therefore need to give greater attention to these shifts and develop clear strategies to narrow the skills gap, in particular to address growing shortages in the mid to senior level talent groups. the recent regulatory reform in the financial sector and the onset of new standards and requirements under both basel ii and basel iii, the emergence of new risk disciplines and the fundamental changes in financial reporting standards, also require financial professionals to be equipped with new knowledge and skills. similarly, talent shortages continue to be acute in high - growth areas such as wealth management, islamic finance, and investment advisory services. at the same time, the role of the financial services sector in the recent global economic meltdown has also raised questions on the issue of the quality of the leadership and workforce and for the need to place greater focus on developing ethical and responsible leaders who will be able to lead a sustainable industry over the medium and longer term. the economic costs of a failure to arrest talent shortages are strategically significant and include low productivity, the slow pace of innovation and lost opportunities. building a strong talent pipeline has therefore become an economic imperative as human capital rivals financial capital as the critical economic engine of the future. this requires new and innovative ways of thinking about talent development, programs, processes and competencies. the human capital challenge has therefore to be approached with a different set of solutions. giving recognition to its importance, in the united states, the accounting rules were adjusted to allow organisations to treat a wider range of talent development costs in the same manner as long - term investments in equipment, manufacturing plants and other facilities. financial institutions today are also forming stronger relationships with business

three times – each time by 25 bp, to 5. 75 %. 3. we have also preserved relative stability of the dinar exchange rate against the euro, as an important pillar of investment and consumer confidence. 4. record fdi inflows have continued. i will make an exception here – this data is always first announced by the president, but since he is on the road, at a conference, i will give you the honour of announcing the latest data. of course, he already has it, because he is the one who contributed the most to such an outcome – fdi amounted to eur 4. 467 bn as at 30 november, and we still have the whole month of december, so we expect this year to be a record year with even higher investment inflows than the previous year. investment inflow remained diversified by project and geography. 5. our fx reserves amounted to a record eur 28. 3 bn at end - october, which is an additional increase of 13. 6 % during this year. 6. we also have record dinar savings, which have increased by over 80 % since the beginning of last year, reaching rsd 180 bn, which is ten times higher than in 2012. 7. in conditions of declining inflation, banks began easing credit standards by the end of last year, hence we have seen an acceleration in credit activity to 7. 2 % y - oy in october, with strong growth in loans to both corporates ( 4. 9 % ) and households ( 9. 2 % ). 8. in the past twelve years, we have tripled our gold reserves to 48 tonnes, and increased their share in total reserves to 13 %. this information becomes even more significant when we know that gold has gained almost 30 % in value just this year! gold gains in importance and value during periods of global turbulence, especially during global geopolitical conflicts and times of high inflation. unfortunately, in recent years, we have witnessed the effects of both of these factors. 9. i will always emphasise that our gold purchases were made in consultation with president vui, considering his strategic thinking, knowledge of global geopolitical relations, and the information he has access to. 10. all these results have officially placed us in the group of countries with an investment - grade rating! it is difficult to prioritise when it comes to opportunities and challenges. a year ago, i spoke here about the green agenda and digitalisation as opportunities