. we need more such innovative products, some of which mobile companies are providing. in india, despite the high mobile density, it is also a reality that most of the handsets are very basic ones and many of the mobile connections are prepaid subscriptions. these are important constraints. the rbi ’ s technical committee on mobile banking has recommended, among others, the need for a standardized and simplified procedure for registration / authentication of customers for mobile banking services, a cohesive awareness programme to be put in place, the adoption of a common application platform across all banks to be delivered to the customers independent of the handset being used, along with use of sms and ussd technology for providing necessary level of security ( through encryption ) for such transactions. the telecom regulatory authority of india ( trai ) has prescribed optimum service parameters, as also a ceiling on charges for provision of ussd services by telecom operators to the banks and their agents. we have a great opportunity for banks and telecom service providers to come together to deliver mobile banking services of all kinds in a seamless and secure manner to their customers. in the next few months, we will accelerate the dialog between key players. technology can also be used to facilitate credit, a product i started the talk with. msmes get squeezed all the time by their large buyers, who pay after long delays. all would be better off if the msme could sell its claim on the large buyer in the market. the msme would get its money quickly, while the market would get a claim on the better rated large buyer instead of holding a claim on the msme. the large buyer could get a better price for his purchases. all this requires setting up a trade - receivables exchange, which the rbi has been discussing with market participants. once again, the key is to reduce transaction costs by automating almost every aspect of the transaction so that even the smallest msmes can benefit. one of the difficulties the poor and small businesses have in accessing credit is the lack of information about them, both up front as they are being evaluated for credit, and after lending where the lender has to monitor them. if savings and payments products are sold widely, and information, including payments to mobile companies, utility companies, as well as the government, collected, then the excluded can build information records that will help them access credit. if, in addition, negative information on defaults is shared in a fair and responsible way through the financial

, many questions still require answering from policymakers and society in general. how do we prevent the emergence of another severe recession? how do we as african countries learn the lessons from this recession? one thing for certain is that there have been significant outflows of capital to the developed countries. many banking facilities have been undermined. again this poses the question about what the structural ownership of banks in our economies should be in the future. although we all rejoice when one or the other bank in our economies is owned by non - resident shareholders, the question arises as to the sustainability of such a model? let me not be misunderstood : we need foreign direct investment in the same way as we want our own banks and other companies to invest abroad. this is a globalised world and cross border investment flows are part of that. but still, the questions remain. these and other questions would have been asked by kgosi edward patrick lebone molotlegi. a finite resource this area, like the rest of the region, depends heavily on mining the platinum group of metals as a major economic activity. we all know that all minerals are a finite resource – there are limited reserves and we, therefore, have to ensure that we bequeath wealth unto the future generations of bafokeng. if anything, the global slowdown experienced earlier in the demand for metals, indicates that we, like the leadership here has noticed, cannot depend solely on these resources. this point is best illustrated by the fact that south africa was once a global leader in gold mining and gold constituted well over fifty percent of south african exports, well that is no longer the case. south africa has been overtaken by china as the world ’ s number one gold producer. this is largely due to gold reserves in this country being depleted and what little is left getting more and more difficult to extract as mining becomes a deeper and deeper activity and, therefore, too costly and a high risk effort. it is today a misnomer to speak of johannesburg as the city of gold as there is no more gold mining in the city other than the reprocessing of those mine dumps. gauteng and egoli only bring fond memories of goldmining in and around johannesburg. the challenge that we face, and i know it is being confronted head - on here, is that one day our mineral resources will be depleted and we have to depend on other economic activities. south africa's diamond coast illustrates the point further