, young people who participate in our monetary policy challenge will help us to get our message across much better and in a more efficient manner. i understand that the monetary policy challenge, now in its fifth year, has been attracting more and more participation. originally, we were not very sensitive to the academic year and the claims that having to sit for exams had on your time. gradually, we learnt to live with your programme, hence the wider participation. we are glad to see so many of you and i want to congratulate all the winning teams. this year, on the boys ’ side the two royal colleges have doubled the top prizes and on the girls ’ side, it ’ s all loreto and nothing else. so i look forward to more competition for both the boys ’ side and the girls ’ side. competition is what keeps us going. competition is what makes the country more efficient. competition is what makes our bankers more efficient. a more informed citizen, a more financially - literate customer base is what is required in our country to make sure that our banks do not make what i call “ supernormal profits ”. bis central bankers ’ speeches we also welcome the young athletes who participated in the interclub youth championships – the other part of our csr outreach. our athletes have been doing very well. some of the early winners in the first year have actually made the whole country proud by turning in an excellent performance at the last jeux des iles1. and i understand from my good friend vivian gungaram2 that we have high hopes for a few who are present here. he even mentioned one to me as a future buckland3. i hope that those dreams will be realized and we at the central bank are very happy to accompany you for part of that journey. we have a record number of records established this year. the year before we had 10 records established. this year i understand 14 records have been established. that ’ s what i mean when i tell you that you must become more efficient and more competitive. so, thank you very much mauritius athletics federation for the work that you are doing and for which i encourage you. we hope that we have still better performance, bringing a rich harvest of gold medals next time not just bronze. good luck therefore to our young athletes who are here, to your parents and your mentors. i say bravo, well done and wish you to persevere in your sporting career. and you can rest assured that your

mobile banking giving access to banking services to needy segments of the population in villages throughout the country. the mobile bank is today a legacy. bank of baroda also made significant contributions towards financial literacy and commercial education. a couple of years later, habib bank joined the bank of baroda in this mission, followed by the state bank of mauritius ltd. a centenary bank has past successes. however, it cannot afford to be complacent about its success stories. a centenary should also be an occasion to look at challenges ahead. the world today is fiercely competitive. innovation, creativity and re - engineering should be on the business agenda of our banks. our banking sector should be always on its toes and tap new markets. the banking sector will be faced with stronger competition by the end of this year with the opening of three new banks, which have been granted banking licences last year. also, as part of the outfall of the honourable prime minister ’ s visit to china, we expect a chinese bank to be part of our financial landscape before long. the sector is becoming more and more competitive and consumers can only stand to gain in this process. as the regulator and watchdog of the banking sector, we at the central bank shall keep an eye on developments to ensure that credit standards are not lowered, that depositors ’ interest are safeguarded and that our reputation as an international financial centre is not at risk. our consumers expect no less from its central bank. mauritius enjoys cultural and economic ties with asia and africa and offers huge potential for the provision of banking services in the region. i strongly urge our banks to take full benefit of opportunities that lie ahead. islamic financial services are being introduced. in this context, i will shortly be meeting with the islamic financial services board of malaysia to discuss the adherence of the bank of mauritius to this international standard setting body comprising regulatory and supervisory agencies worldwide which have interest in enhancing the soundness and stability of the islamic financial services industry. i believe that the time is now right to envisage a suitable currency exchange system between our two countries. there has been significant expansion in trade and tourism between india and mauritius. i understand that around 50, 000 tourists from india are expected to visit mauritius this year and that 20, 000 mauritians would have travelled to india. this measure will avoid the inconvenience for travellers having to convert their indian rupee banknotes into a foreign currency first when travelling to mauritius and secondly, to reconvert them into