cyber security examinations across the industry, following the issuance of guidelines in 2023. financial performance and condition of the sector despite these challenges, the banking sector remained resilient. was adequately capitalised with capital adequacy ratios remaining well above the minimum requirements. the sector continued to generate sufficient income to cover operating costs, fund growth and augment capital. liquidity conditions varied across banks and the bank of zambia instituted relevant support measures to the sector as alluded to earlier. asset quality was satisfactory, however, continued to be a source of concern, and the bank will continue to assess the situation and will institute appropriate measures to minimise disruption to the financial system. thank you

flood re in the uk is one way of mitigating the risk of a shock to supply of insurance. but we should be mindful of the risk of moral hazard and of crowding out private capital. to return to the example of cyber risk, the industry is now able to provide explicit cyber cover for those aspects of the risk that are insurable such as recoverability, physical damage and the cost of notification of lost records. and we know there is appetite in the market to keep the insurance business model relevant and seek out alternative sources of profit by underwriting new risks. as investors in longer - term, illiquid assets, insurance companies are well suited to support the uk ’ s economic recovery as this audience will be well aware, the industry ’ s contribution to the economy goes further than transfer and pooling of physical and financial risk. the life insurance sector plays important roles : first, providing the security of income in retirement not only to current retirees – via in payment annuities – but also to future retirees – via deferred annuities and savings products ; confidence in security of income both current and prospective supports spending and demand for goods and services in the real economy. secondly, life insurers channel savings into long term investment. through these functions the life sector also has a crucial role to play helping the economy to emerge from the pandemic and adapt to potentially profound structural change. whilst covid - 19 has created new financial risks on both the asset and liabilities sides of insurers ’ balance sheets, there are also opportunities for insurers as investors in a wide range of long - term high quality illiquid assets, such as infrastructure, which are key to supporting recovery and adaptation. these may extend to the even bigger structural change of transition to a zero carbon economy necessary to avoid the worst impact of climate change. this, by the way, is another example of how providing financial services to the wider economy – in this case financing low carbon alternative technologies, has a positive feedback to balance sheet strength by reducing risks on both the asset and liability sides. 2 see speech by anna sweeney ( 2020 ) : paving the way forward : managing climate risk in the insurance sector all speeches are available online at www. bankofengland. co. uk / news / speeches and @ boe _ pressoffice following the crisis some companies will enter the recovery phase with more highly leveraged balance sheets, some from a starting point that was arguably itself over