njuguna ndung ’ u : the agent banking model remarks by prof njuguna ndung ’ u, governor of the central bank of kenya, at the launch of ecobank kenya ’ s rapid transfer product, nairobi, 17 june 2010. * * * mr. peter kanyago, chairman, ecobank kenya ; mr. anthony okpanachi, managing director of ecobank kenya ; board members ; management and staff ; distinguished guests ; ladies and gentlemen : i am delighted to have been invited to the launch of the new rapid transfer product by ecobank. i am informed that this new product will provide ecobank customers with a fast, convenient, reliable and secure way to transfer funds at all ecobank branches across 27 african countries, making ecobank a truly “ pan african bank ”. allow me at this juncture to commend the board, management and staff of ecobank kenya for the introduction of this new product that will not only enhance customer service but also boost trade across the african continent. the launch of rapid transfer product is indeed another milestone for the banking industry and demonstrates ecobank ’ s commitment to financial innovation. it is noteworthy that since ecobank kenya ’ s entry into the kenyan market in june 2008, the bank has grown its branch network from 9 to the current 20 branches including the head office. this indeed shows the level of confidence that the board and the management of ecobank have in the kenyan market. despite the various local and global turbulences experienced over the past two years, the banking sector continues to exhibit resilience and has remained strong. the impressive 2009 end year performance has been largely supported by growth in deposits, injection of capital, retention of profits and also declining costs of doing business supported by technology. during the period ended april 2010, the sector ’ s assets stood at kshs. 1. 5 trillion, with gross loans and advances at kshs. 799. 5 billion. deposits increased to kshs. 1. 1 trillion supported mainly by branch expansion, receipts from exports and remittances from abroad. at the same time, the banking sector registered a pre - tax profit of ksks19. 5 billion, in the four months to april 2010 compared to shs 48 billion in the twelve months of 2009. the sector is therefore likely to achieve better results this year compared to the previous year. despite the impressive performance by banks, customers continue to shoulder the heavy burden of high transactional costs. this historical burden has to

to pay instantly across borders by connecting several fast payment systems from around the world ( including eurosystem ’ s tips ). • longer - term and more global projects could pave the way for new avenues. the bis x and the imf xi are actively thinking about integrated platforms, which would bring together tokenised central bank money, tokenised deposits and tokenised financial assets. in particular, the bis ’ blueprint for a unified ledger holds strong promises, as it would make cbdcs natively interoperable and would significantly ease cross - border payments. we look forward to playing our part in this project. meanwhile, we continue our experiments, together with the bis, the imf and national central banks. after the mariana project conducted under the aegis of bisih, i am pleased to announce that the banque de france will soon take part in the mas ’ guardian project. our common experiment, “ les gardiennes ”, will deal with multi - cbdcs and potentially tokenised deposits in cross - currency and cross - border repos. * * i will conclude with one of our contemporary architects, frank gehry, who was one of the very first to make use of computer capabilities in order to design iconic buildings. he once said “ architecture should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness ”. this is precisely what we, central banks, are striving to achieve once more, together with private partners. thank you for your attention. page 5 sur 4 menon, r., the future of money, finance, and the internet, speech, 9 november 2021 please refer for instance to villeroy de galhau, f., big techs in finance – a bildungsroman that is far from over, speech, 9 february 2023 and regulation and innovation : the yin and yang of the financial sector, speech, 5 july iii banque de france, wholesale central bank digital currency experiments with the banque de france, new insights and key takeaways, july 2023. iv european central bank, eurosystem to explore new technologies for wholesale central bank money settlement, press release, 28 april 2023. v european central bank, survey n eurosystem plans for trials and experiments on new technologies for wholesale central bank money settlement, 13 october 2023 vi european central bank, eurosystem proceeds to next phase of digital euro project, press release, 18 october vii european commission, proposal for a