syed salim raza : need for alternative delivery channels in promoting access to finance speech by mr syed salim raza, governor of the state bank of pakistan, at the pakistan branchless banking conference 2010, karachi, 17 april 2010. * * * dr. muhammad yasin, chairman pakistan telecommunication authority, mr. ali arshad hakeem, chairman nadra, mr. haroon sharif, regional advisor dfid, distinguished speakers, ladies and gentlemen, 1. on behalf of sbp, may i extend a very warm welcome to all, to pakistan ’ s branchless banking conference 2010. today ’ s forum has participants from diverse backgrounds, from the banking, microfinance, and telecommunication sectors, as well as donors and government agencies, setting the stage for a creative and fruitful working session. 2. there are about 4 billion unbanked people 1 in the world, which is more than twothirds of the population of low and middle - income countries. in pakistan, the ratio of financial exclusion is even higher. in spite of the availability of an enabling policy environment, and government and donors - supported incentives, the existing outreach is about 12 %. it is in our greatest self interest to develop inclusive financial systems which provide low income and marginalized communities with increased access to viable financial services, thus allowing them to become a critical component in, and contribute to, the country ’ s economic development. alternative delivery channels 3. traditionally, the provision of financial services to the low income population is often based on personal, one - to - one relationships, making it human resource intensive. thus, financial institutions have to incur high costs for building and maintaining branch networks and developing trained personnel. alternative delivery channels can reduce these costs and offer a balance between personalized services and emerging transactional services, such as mobile banking. research conducted by the cgap technology program in 2008 found that using third - party agents costs on average 30 times less globally and 76 times less in pakistan and replacing them with a mobile phone further cuts costs in half. 2 the most common of these delivery channels include mobile phones, third party agents, and use of pos terminals. 4. in addition to significant cost reduction, alternative delivery channels expand outreach to areas in which the traditional bricks and mortar approach is unfeasible, and also increases product diversification by making savings and remittance products convenient, efficient and profitable. on the client side, such delivery channels provide unprecedented convenience through remote payments.

christopher j waller : cut or skip? speech by mr christopher j waller, member of the board of governors of the federal reserve system, at the american institute for economic research monetary conference on " building a better fed framework ", washington dc, 2 december 2024. * * * thank you, lydia, and thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. i thought i might use my time with you to address the federal open market committee's ( fomc ) ongoing effort to return inflation to our 2 percent target while keeping the labor market and the economy strong. 1 after significant progress in reducing inflation and evident moderation in the labor market, in september the committee judged that the time had come to begin easing monetary policy toward a more neutral setting to limit the risk of unduly weakening the labor market as progress continues toward 2 percent inflation. after reducing the policy rate 75 basis points since our september meeting, i believe that monetary policy is still restrictive and putting downward pressure on inflation without creating undesirable weakness in the labor market. i expect rate cuts to continue over the next year until we approach a more neutral setting of the policy rate. but recent data have raised the possibility that progress on inflation may be stalling at a level meaningfully above 2 percent. this risk has raised concerns that the fomc should consider holding the policy rate constant at our upcoming meeting to collect more information about the future path of inflation and the economy. based on the economic data in hand today and forecasts that show that inflation will continue on its downward path to 2 percent over the medium term, at present i lean toward supporting a cut to the policy rate at our december meeting. but that decision will depend on whether data that we will receive before then surprises to the upside and alters my forecast for the path of inflation. let me turn to the economic outlook. real gross domestic product ( gdp ) grew at a strong annual pace of 2. 8 percent in the third quarter of 2024, and indications are that growth in the fourth quarter will be a bit slower. an average of private sectors forecasts predicts 2. 2 percent, while based on fairly limited data so far, the atlanta fed's gdpnow model currently predicts 3. 2 percent. on the consumer side of the economy, real personal consumption expenditures ( pce ) increased 0. 1 percent in october after a 0. 5 percent rise in september. given the recent volatility in these numbers, i won