the egmont group and other initiatives to combat money laundering and terrorism financing. nonetheless, the threat is ever evolving. the uae is devoted to minimizing this pervasive threat. in bolstering our anti - money laundering and counter - terrorism financing defenses, we have recently enacted new legislation and revised the regulatory framework for exchange houses. we are also strengthening our supervisory capacity via specialized risk teams and a more robust risk - based model. cbuae has also completed a comprehensive assessment of national banks last year. the same for exchange houses is targeted for completion by this year end. the uae is also actively exploring how best to leverage on technology to mitigate aml risks. in all of this, international regulatory cooperation is key. clearly, aml risk is borderless. we very much appreciate further focus of the basel committee on aml risks, both in terms of facilitating good supervisory practices, as well as day - to - day supervisory cooperation. [ c. challenges posed by financial technology ] lastly, we are observing how rapid advances in digital technology are transforming the financial landscape. most are evolutionary in nature, while some are revolutionary in their scale and potential. those advances bring with them disruptions of various kinds - not only to the financial industry, but also to how we conduct supervision. a clear challenge is to balance the tradeoff between the efficiency and the safety and soundness of financial system in the face of such rapid changes : in the uae, we see rapid growth in both onshore and in the two offshore financial centers. regulatory sandboxes managed by financial free zones have facilitated experimentation of innovative services within pre - defined boundaries. our startups and banks have also been actively developing a variety of fintech initiatives - digital wallets, solutions to facilitate regulatory compliance, crowdfunding – just to name a few. we must be watchful in maintaining the equilibrium between sound prudential and market conduct standards, without stifling innovation. to achieve this, close engagements with regulated businesses, fintech firms and other stakeholders in the broader ecosystem is pivotal. we believe that ongoing dialogue is the best way to ensure new players are aware and able to navigate the applicable rules. at the same time, it is our responsibility to ensure that supporting infrastructure is put in place for sustainable innovation to flourish. as we navigate through the evolving ecosystem, we must ensure that our supervisors are well - equipped to identify, assess and tackle potential risks associated with fintech. i therefore cannot stress enough on the

some insights to this process of integration. ladies and gentlemen : anti - money laundering ( aml ) and combatting the financing of terrorism remains a challenge to us all. the heavy cash - based nature of the east african economies, civil conflicts and porous borders make the region particularly vulnerable to money laundering and financing of terrorism. however significant progress has been made across the region in strengthening aml / cft regulatory regimes particularly with the support of the eastern africa anti - money laundering group ( esaamlg ). the growth of mobile phone financial services across the region will also significantly reduce the risk of aml / cft with the tractability of mobile phone financial transactions and reduction of usage of informal financial services. let us all agree that it is the informality of financial markets that will allow bad regimes of aml / cft to thrive – we need then to formalize markets. kenya and tanzania have been incorporated in the financial action task force ( fatf ) public list of countries with deficiencies in their aml / cft legal and regulatory frameworks. bis central bankers ’ speeches uganda has recently been added to this list. significant progress has been made in both kenya and tanzania in enacting and implementing the requisite aml / cft regimes. nairobi is also this week hosting the fatf regional review group meeting for middle east and africa that will review progress made in kenya and tanzania in addressing aml / cft deficiencies. i am sure that we will continue to strengthen our aml / cft regimes across the region given the strong political commitment and support from government, the private sector and the general public. i expect that this summit will also generate practical recommendations on how aml / cft regimes across the region can be strengthened. ladies and gentlemen : as i draw to a close, i urge you to draw from the varied experiences of the high calibre facilitators and participants in this forum to come up with recommendations that will enhance the east african financial markets ’ governance, risk and a policy convergence environment. this will in turn enable our envisaged regional financial markets to attract the capital that is required to finance the eac ’ s ambitious development agenda and also leave no room for informal financial markets to thrive. it is now my distinct honour to declare this summit officially open. thank you. bis central bankers ’ speeches