what they are paid for when corrosion of character is so pervasive? i come from a profession that has little to do with the practical aspects of human resource management. i am an economist, not a human resource professional. i have my own style of resolving human resource problems that is not necessarily the ideal one. it was 1998. i had just been appointed governor of the bank. the bank ’ s operations were partially computerized. there 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches were a few senior employees who, despite having had the benefit of many sessions of training, were still averse to the use of computer. i had seized the opportunity of a meeting with staff to drive home a key point. i vividly recall having said that people hate change. the world hates change. yet it is the only thing that has brought progress. the sophisticated quality of their cars they were driving, the electrical appliances that have greatly enhanced the quality of their lives, the advanced medical facilities that have reduced suffering were some examples of the products of “ change ” that successful organisations have adapted to. i had gone on to quote harold wilson, former british prime minister of the uk, “ he who rejects change is the architect of decay. the only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery. ” my eyeballs rolled, on and on, on those who were aversive to the use of computer at the bank, while i stressed that we had to reinvent ourselves continually. it is not the strongest or the most intelligent that survives ; it is the one that is most adaptable to change. it was compelling for us to tool and re - tool, equip and reequip ourselves and keep on moving ahead if we had to keep earning a salary at the bank. the bad news was that re - engineering in any enterprise requires hard decisions. the hard decision was that those who are against change would have to head towards the exit door. guess what? samuel johnson said it beautifully : “ when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully. ” the same day the senior guys unpacked themselves to learn the difference between business ignorance and business tragedy. not long after, the same guys became the champion for change. they are still employed somewhere in the private sector, even after the age of 65. they turned out to be winners. winners are often losers who have evaluated themselves. ceos, heads of departments / divisions and human resource

can all sleep in peace knowing that the bank is on the job. on a recent occasion, i expressed my satisfaction at the profitability of our banks and the buoyant economic environment generally. i also expressed my concern about the excessive growth of credit which we were witnessing. i had at the back of my mind the truism that bad loans are made in good times. i was determined to ensure that we do not rediscover this through bitter experience. i am happy to report that the situation is firmly under control. so much so that we are actually envisaging repo operations, for the first time in more than a year, to inject liquidity in the system. the determination of the central bank to press ahead, in spite of criticism, has paid off. if we are happy with the profitability of our banks, we remain concerned about their efficiency and the affordability of their services. for instance, the average return on assets ( roa ) of banks in mauritius last year was 1. 8 per cent, 2 as compared to an roa of 1. 3 per cent in our neighbourhood giant, south africa. while strong earnings are important and the higher roa could point to greater operational efficiency, it could also reflect higher costs being levied on the customer. no doubt more competition leads to better price discovery. we have 19 banks operating in mauritius. although, there is a high degree of market concentration, we do not believe that there is any active collusion among them. to stimulate greater competition and enable customers to make informed choices, we are working with banks to devise a common template for displaying applicable fees, charges and commissions in a comparable manner on their respective web sites. a better - informed customer is the best guarantee of greater efficiency in financial intermediation and the sustainable profitability of our banks. it is a fact of life that some banking transactions will go sour, lead to recrimination, and result in costly and protracted lawsuits. if we are keen to reduce transaction costs, and the cost of doing business generally in mauritius, we must address these issues in a more efficient and timely manner. the provision relating to the ombudsperson for banks in the banking act of 2004 still remains to be implemented. you may reasonably ask why. and we owe an explanation on this score. it is my firm conviction that our jurisdiction is too small to have a multiplicity of source : annual report 2007 : bank supervision department, reserve bank of