mohamed s fofana : bank of sierra leone charity trust fund keynote address by mr mohamed s fofana, deputy governor of the bank of sierra leone, at the scholarship award ceremony of the bank of sierra leone charity trust fund, freetown, 25 january 2008. * * * mr chairman members of the board of trustees of the bank of sierra leone charity trust fund board of directors and management of the bank of sierra leone officials of the ministry of education heads of commercial banks and other financial institutions members of the fourth estate distinguished guests, including the awardees students and pupils it is my honour and privilege to warmly welcome you all to the scholarship award ceremony of the bank of sierra leone charity trust fund. the idea of a charity trust fund was conceived by the bank of sierra leone in the wake of the devastation caused by the decade old civil conflict in every sector of our society, the education sector, being key. we were convinced that the future for a better sierra leone and a decisive turnaround in the state of the economy, lie largely in education taking its rightful place in the development plan. as the nation ’ s central bank, we have a pivotal role to play in the development aspirations of the country. that is why as a corporate body, we have recognised our responsibility in the discharge of our duties to honour our corporate social responsibility. we are therefore doing all in our power to compliment the efforts of the government and other well meaning partners to help foster economic and social development. to this end, our corporate social responsibility is focused on providing a stimulus that will help promote excellence in every aspect of our development, but more so in education. by supporting the education sector, our aim is to achieve the following : • contribute towards the development of the human resource base required to drive economic activities in the country. in this regard, our objective is to open doors leading to abounding opportunities for future generations in our own small way. we hope that by providing for those who have the ability to achieve academic excellence but cannot do so for lack of financial support, we can help restore the academic prowess for which sierra leone was known in the continent. we would therefore assure everyone, not only those in secondary schools, but also institutions and individuals who have the talent and the commitment to demonstrate outstanding performance, that you will get our attention and support, if you are deserving. mr chairman, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, it is only recently that the bank of sierra leone has taken up the responsibility of helping in

its outreach depth to a greater number of small businesses in and around freetown. only five months after the commencement of operations at its head office, the bank requested and was given permission to open a branch in kissy on 14th december, 2007. and we are delighted to note that another branch will soon be opened in lumley – the west end of freetown. the challenge after lumley is for procredit to extend its activities in other areas of the country, which may be more deserving for their services. by our estimates so far, procredit has already made some mark in the domestic banking industry and is poised to do more. as at end january, 2008, the bank ’ s credit portfolio amounted to about le8. 0 billion ; this was disbursed to 1, 440 customers. deposit base during the same period stood at about le3. 0 billion, with an impressive record of 5, 600 deposit accounts. what is important here is that many of these customers are first - time account holders who might have found it difficult to open accounts with the traditional commercial banks. loan recovery has also recorded a formidable and impressive rate. we therefore commend the management and staff for this ground - breaking performance. microfinance activities now include products such as micro credit, micro insurance, mobile banking, etc, which are designed to increase the product portfolio and provide customers with a variety of products that are easily accessible. we believe that with the increased efforts to further institutionalise microfinance activities in the country, we will soon see a wider variety of microfinance products for small scale producers. madam chair, i believe this is a befitting occasion to discuss what we, at the bank of sierra leone, are doing to foster an efficient, sound and stable financial sector, including microfinance. the bank of sierra leone, in collaboration with mitaf, is drafting guidelines for the regulation and supervision of deposit - taking microfinance institutions. development in this area is far advanced. the bank of sierra leone has also recognised the need to bring the legal framework for regulating the banking sector consistent with international best practice. hence, in consultations with our international partners, ( adb, imf, world bank, etc ), the bank of sierra leone is undertaking a comprehensive review of the banking act 2000, and the anti - money laundering act 2005 in order to align them with international best practices and to address some of the weaknesses which have been identified while