developed and made it difficult to reach certain localities where population was sparse. the bank of baroda mobile thus contributed to financial access in rural areas. it helped many agricultural labourers, farmers and entrepreneurs to have access to basic banking services. this was a revolutionary step for the rural community at the time. let me sincerely congratulate the management of bank of baroda for their involvement here and for their contribution to the economic and social development of our country for nearly half a century now. i understand you will soon be celebrating the golden jubilee of your presence in mauritius. the bank of mauritius is five years your junior! we owe you some respect, don ’ t we? bank of baroda has a long - standing relationship with our country. it opened its first branch in mauritius in 1962, when it became the fourth full - fledged commercial bank in the country after mauritius commercial bank, barclays bank dco, and mercantile bank of india, and broke a monopoly that had reigned through colonial times. since then, bank of baroda has pioneered many developments. it was associated with the development of our offshore sector since the very outset. when offshore banking was launched in mauritius in the late 1980 ’ s, bank of baroda was among the first to establish an offshore banking unit. today, this segment has grown into a profitable business. over the years, our banking landscape has witnessed the emergence of new players. we now have 21 banks and bank of baroda is now solidly in the middle, ranking 10th, with an asset size of rs 24 billion. bis central bankers ’ speeches i am sure this new branch will bring added value to the locality and the surrounding areas and instil more competition for the benefit of customers. banking has to become more customer - centric. the financial crisis has changed the rules of the game. only two weeks ago, at the bank of mauritius, we have taken very forceful steps to protect bank customers. we set up a task force on unfair terms and conditions in financial contracts, including fees, charges, commissions and other levies imposed by banks. by now, you should all know what prompted this initiative of the bank. at the risk of repeating myself, i have spoken out about the many grievances spanning a wide range of issues from dissatisfied customers knocking at the door of the central bank. they complain about practices that are crying out for reform. your central bank cannot remain indifferent to such calls from the public. the global economic downturn is impacting on our

is likely to become accepted as a new standard soon. thus, the bank missed a golden opportunity to be a pace - setter in this area in the emerging world. another regret is our failure as the main provider of data on banking, finance and international trade to the imf to graduate to the imf ’ s special data dissemination standards. had other key players in the sector shared our vision, we would have ranked with malta and cyprus, both of which joined the league of sdds countries last week. all is not lost, though, as we are working hard to join this higher reporting standard so that we can rank among the best. punching above one ’ s weight has always been a key driver for many of my actions. this is done more easily if the entire team shares the same mind - set and is prepared to leave their comfort zone to reach ever higher and higher. hilary clinton, the us secretary of state, has been lavishing praise on our government as an economic and moral leader in africa. the world bank has given our economy a clean bill of health. the imf is holding what it calls our “ hybrid system of inflation targeting ” as a model for other countries to emulate. and, for good measure, the fund has re - classified our exchange rate regime as “ free floating ”, going up one notch above “ managed floating. ” we do not have the vaulting ambition to aim for the next level, which is that of a reserve currency! to a troubled world we seem to have offered some fresh tuition. yet we should beware of hubris. so let us be warned by h g wells, one of the founding fathers of that fine institution, lse – much beloved of our minister of finance, and my daughter – who asserted over 100 years ago : “ human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe ”. thus we must learn from the current troubles, shrewdly building on our evidence - based approach to business, banking and finance. the world economic forum index may put us top of the african league on probity, but we still come low on the global list ; hilary likes our form of democracy, but the privy council has probed some of our political election practices and found some of our customs wanting. we may be getting along in economic growth ; but what about the degradation of our natural environment and the effectiveness of our response to the risks of climate change and sea level rise? our lodestar must be the