markets for the african region is immense. we have to ensure that all necessary efforts are harnessed in designing the right enabling environment and ecosystem in this pursuit. it is important for all stakeholders including policy makers, central banks, regulators and operators to collaborate in this endeavour, not only locally but also at the regional level for a sound ecosystem. we will continue to play our role and to play it well to ensure optimisation of our potential. with these notes, i would like to thank you all for your attention and i wish you fruitful deliberations. 7 / 7 bis - central bankers'speeches

with respect to the 40 recommendations of the fatf. mauritius, which serves as a reference considering its rapid exit from the fatf list, continues to upgrade its aml / cft regime through the necessary legislative amendments and adoption of a riskbased supervisory framework. ladies and gentlemen introduction of fintech and its acceptance requires prior testing. the bank of mauritius is establishing its innovation hub and digital lab, which will provide a testing environment for the development of fintech solutions and will facilitate the hosting of ideations, hackathons and exploratory programming sessions, amongst others. we are collaborating with other central banks and innovation hubs. we are confident that these initiatives will accelerate the development of technology - enabled banking and financial services. the use of innovative solutions also introduces new risks such as cybersecurity threats. the bank of mauritius has taken proactive steps and has developed a clear - cut cyber risk and resilience strategy. we are conscious that a cyber incident may, at any point, assume magnitudes of systemic proportions since each stakeholder in the chain represents a point of vulnerability. with this in mind, i have established the mauritius financial sector cyber committee ( mfscc ) to enhance the cyber resilience of the financial sector and, by ricochet, the overall stability of our financial system. i chaired the first meeting of this committee on 15 september 2023. the upcoming projects of the committee include the establishment of relevant frameworks for the sharing of information and intelligence and the conduct of cyber simulation exercise. the 6th annual cybersecurity workshop, which was held at the imf headquarters earlier this year, was attended by representatives from over 60 countries. mauritius emerged as a notable case study. the workshop highlighted the evolving role of central banks in supervising cyber - related activities among their licensees. mauritius stood out as an example, showcasing a collaborative approach between its supervision team and its information security team as they jointly conducted onsite supervision. many countries have expressed their intent to follow mauritius'approach in strengthening their own cybersecurity frameworks. several central banks have contacted the bank of mauritius to benefit from our experience and initiatives we have been taking. i am fully confident that mauritius will develop into a regional hub of cyber excellence as it implements the cyber risk and resilience strategy. ladies and gentlemen 6 / 7 bis - central bankers'speeches to wrap up, the effective development of financial markets and its digitalisation are important to ensure sustained growth. the potential of financial