to which a minimum of 70 % of credit exposure of a bank is required to be covered. from fy 2023 - 24 onwards, the board of directors of psbs will decide on the coverage of branch audit and selection of branches. while doing so, the boards are required to keep in mind the specific characteristics of individual banks like the bank's business and risk profile, geographical spread, degree of centralisation of processes, etc. we expect the boards of banks to exercise the highest level of diligence while deciding on these issues. as regards statutory branch audit of private sector banks ( pvbs ), we are doing a fresh assessment of the quality and coverage of such audits. skill and capacity building in the reserve bank 23. in the reserve bank we attach a lot of importance to skill building and capacity development of our employees. we have been strengthening the department of supervision both in number and quality. this is important as effective supervision requires specialised skills and mature judgement. in this context, we expect the college of supervisors to keep on improving its training methodologies, adopt more case studybased teaching, have more practical sessions in its training programmes, and develop objective assessment of the impact of its training interventions. the feedback received from trainees may be used to improve programme content and fill the gaps identified. the training programmes may also strike a balance between teaching hard technical skills and promoting soft skills such as leadership, decision making, time management and conflict resolution. 24. the rapid developments and innovations in the financial system, especially in the areas of fintech and digital products pose new opportunities as well as risks. these may affect financial intermediation, payment systems, cyber security and consumer protection. we have to continue monitoring and assessing the implications of these 5 / 6 bis - central bankers'speeches emerging trends, while also developing our own capabilities and frameworks to effectively respond to these challenges. 25. in recent times, we have seen a proliferation of digital lending by nbfcs, fintechs and loan apps. such lending also brought with it certain challenges, especially with regard to fair practices and consumer protection. to address these challenges, the reserve bank has laid down comprehensive guidelines for digital lending in september 2022. these guidelines aim to ensure that lending activities are conducted by the res and their partners such as loan service providers ( lsps ) in a prudent, fair, transparent and responsible manner. conclusion 26. to sum up, the reserve bank remains committed to future - proof

david dodge : recent economic developments and the conduct of monetary policy speech by mr david dodge, governor of the bank of canada, to the metropolitan halifax chamber of commerce, halifax, 18 june 2003. * * * good afternoon, and thank you for the invitation to speak with you today. it ’ s great to be back in halifax, one of canada ’ s most colourful port cities. it is the wonderful juxtaposition of the new with the old - halifax ’ s modern focus with its rich maritime traditions - that makes this city special. it ’ s been a year since i last spoke in halifax, and a lot has changed since then. we ’ ve witnessed some extraordinary events, both in canada and around the world. on the whole, canada ’ s economy has withstood the turmoil quite well. the impact of some more recent events is not yet clear. still, i will try today to outline how our economy has evolved over the past year and to lay out the issues that we ’ ll be assessing as we prepare our july monetary policy report update. watching conditions and demand pressures as we at the bank of canada set monetary policy, we watch all the events affecting our economy, including global geopolitical, economic, and financial conditions. we do this with a view to keeping domestic inflation near the 2 per cent midpoint of canada ’ s inflation target range of 1 to 3 per cent. as we have often said, delivering an environment of low, stable, and predictable inflation is the best contribution that monetary policy can make to a strong, sustainable economy and rising living standards for canadians. such a low - inflation environment also helps keep our economy near its production potential over time. to achieve those goals, we keep a close eye on the factors influencing demand and production capacity - factors that will, in turn, influence inflation over the medium term. and we adjust monetary policy to keep the future trend of inflation near the 2 per cent target midpoint. where we ’ ve been as i ’ ve said, it ’ s been a year since i last spoke in halifax. but to place our recent experience in some context, i should go back a bit further than that - to the 11 september 2001 terrorist attacks in the united states. in the wake of that terrible event, the bank of canada quickly and aggressively cut its policy interest rate to shore up confidence and support domestic demand. this action, together with earlier reductions in our policy interest rate, meant that the bank had injected considerable stimulus into