emmanuel tumusiime - mutebile : increasing information sharing through mous remarks by prof emmanuel tumusiime - mutebile, governor of the bank of uganda, at the uganda law society - financial sector consultative meeting for increasing information sharing through mous ( memorandums of understanding ), kampala, 22 march 2010. * * * distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen good morning i am greatly honoured to deliver the opening remarks at this consultative meeting. i would like to thank all of you for responding positively to the invitation to this consultative meeting whose main objective is to promote institutional networking and information sharing with strategic partners to improve market efficiency. the presence of the various financial sector experts in this consultative forum is testimony that you are committed to finding durable solutions to the impediments that still exist in the financial markets. more specifically, this meeting is intended to identify the gaps that exist in the current arrangements for cooperation, to explore the scope of services and any other information that stakeholders need to share, and to generate proposals on the best legal frameworks for information sharing. some institutions may already be having adhoc arrangements for information sharing and cooperation but these arrangements may not be optimal and this forum should provide avenues for formalizing and strengthening existing arrangements. at the bank of uganda ( bou ), we consider information sharing as a key ingredient in the process of financial markets development. in this regard, the bou duly supports institutional efforts to formalize information sharing through mous. i am happy to note that at national level, all the financial markets regulators namely, capital markets authority, uganda insurance commission and the bank of uganda have an mou for sharing information on regulatory matters. in the design of the financial markets development plan ( fmdp ), specific initiatives were included on information sharing and networking using a top down approach from regulators to the regulated entities. this will not only ensure integration of service delivery in the financial sector but will also result into a majority of the population accessing financial services and products. the more we increase financial integration, the more we shall reach a greater population and the more we shall promote the development of financial markets. it is important for us to move in this direction in order to adequately to prepare ourselves to participate in the greater regional market and remain competitive. our expectation is that we should see more integration of the financial sector, enhanced networking, stronger linkages, higher level transparency and enhanced cooperation. all this should ultimately result in increased efficiency and reduction in costs of doing business

we have dg diwa guinigundo, dg armando suratos, dg nestor espenilla, jr. and general counsel and asst. governor juan de zuniga, jr. what makes e - rediscounting attractive to banks? well, as an online rediscounting facility, banks file loan applications through the internet and – if their application is approved - receive the loan proceeds within minutes, through their demand deposit accounts with the bangko sentral. in other words, they same time, incur lower transaction costs and are spared the inconvenience of physically filing their applications and going through manual processing. on the other hand, bank customers can look forward to lower borrowing costs when their banks start sharing the cost benefits of e - rediscounting. at this point, let me also take the opportunity to acknowledge the dedication of the officers and staff of the pilot and participating banks who made their resources available for the success of this project. we also wish to thank the officials and staff of the bsp, particularly from the department of loans and credit and the information technology sub - sector. of course, we would also like to acknowledge the assistance and participation of the davao regional office. let me assure our colleagues from the banking community and the business sector here in mindanao that we shall continue to explore ways to enhance our operations so as to facilitate the greater flow of credit in the countryside. in line with this strategy, the bsp has approved a new project that will compliment the e - rediscounting system. we call this project the collateral information and management system or cims. the cims is envisioned as a system by which the bsp can monitor, control and manage collaterals submitted by banks as security for their loans. the cims is expected to enable authorize users to electronically obtain information on the status of collateral documents particularly the collateral positions of borrower banks and end - user borrowers. this system will also further facilitate loan processing as well as ensure the bsp ’ s protection against potential credit risk. phase i of the cims is targeted for completion by the end of this year. indeed, the monetary board and the bangko sentral are committed to continuously find better ways of serving our country through the delivery of fast, adequate, and affordable credit, particularly to small - and medium - sized borrowers from the countryside. we hope therefore that our partners from the banking community and the business sector