virtue of their close contact with countryside customers. in addition, recent product approvals of the bsp such as the micro - agri product and the housing microfinance product provide rural banks with opportunities to expand the range of services they can provide to their clients. in particular, rural banks with microfinance operations are now provided with the opportunity to complement their present microfinance operations by offering these new products, to further diversify portfolios and reduce the risk of business loans being applied to agriculture or housing. further, by recognizing the microfinance component of these loans, they will now enjoy the same benefits of microfinance such as no collateral requirements or the acceptance of collateral substitutes, cash flow and character based lending, small and frequent amortizations as well as simple documentary requirements. in the last two years, qualified rural banks were further granted the authority to engage in a wider range of activities. through circular 583, issued in 2007, rural banks may engage in limited trust activities. just this year, rural banks have been allowed to participate in selected derivative activities. with the revised rules governing derivative activities of banks under circular 594, rural banks that want to transact as end - user may apply for a type 3 or limited user authority. meanwhile, those rural banks that wish to facilitate derivative transactions of customers may apply for a type 4 or special broker authority. just two weeks ago, the monetary board approved the abolition of some fees charged for the participation in the philippine payments and settlements system ( philpass ). the abolition of the annual license fee collected from the non - swift members banks for the use of the philippine payment system – front end system ( pps - fes ) and the monthly access fee for the third party systems providers will allow free and open participation in philpass, by rural banks. by inter - connecting, rural banks may more readily participate in clearing with the philippine clearing house corporation ( pchc ), managing its government securities investments, participating in the exchange market, as well as participating in atm networks and in the interbank market. rural banks will also be able to instruct their depository bank to augment their demand deposit accounts ( dda ) maintained in the bsp through philpass. truly the potential for rural banks to be mainstreamed in the country ’ s payment system is being realized. our policy stance is a clear indication that we consider rural banks to be ready, effective and important channels for economic development. we also recognize the crucial role

honourable minister shala, honourable chairman of the cbk board, mr mrasori, honourable deputy governor, representatives of financial institutions, honourable participants, ladies and gentlemen, i am pleased that today we are all together marking the world consumer rights day, which is now transformed into an annual activity for the central bank of the republic of kosovo. the special feature of today's organization is that this is happening within the activities of marking the 20th anniversary of the establishment of cbk, so we are in a good moment to reflect on the development of kosovo's financial system over these 20 years and our orientation for the development of this sector in the future. kosovo started developing the financial system in 1999, at a time when everything had to be developed from the outset. the first years of cbk's operation were mainly related to the construction of the basic infrastructure necessary for the functioning of the financial system, starting from the regulatory and supervisory framework, the payment system and so on. over time, together with the highly valued support from our international partners, cbk managed to advance its capacities at the same level with the central banks of countries with a longer tradition of the financial system. cbk went through different development stages, and so did the financial institutions operating in kosovo. the first years of their operation were quite challenging, because they operated in an environment of high uncertainty and significant lack of information. nevertheless, the improvements made in the financial infrastructure and in the overall business environment in kosovo, together with the growth of maturity of financial institutions and cbk during these 20 years, have resulted in a modern and sound financial system that is successfully implementing its role of financial intermediation in support of the sustainable development of the country's economy. nowadays, our financial system is generally characterized by steady growth of activity and a very satisfactory level of financial health indicators. whereas, in the first years of operation of the financial system, the focus was on creating the conditions for providing basic financial services for the country's economy, now we have reached a level where more attention is given to the quality of these services, where undoubtedly, activities aiming consumer protection of financial services occupy a very important place. for us, consumer protection activities represent a daily task that we exercise with the utmost seriousness, and this day will be used as an opportunity to make a general reflection on these activities. consumer protection is not a single action, but an entire process that promotes responsible behaviour of financial institutions by incorporating various aspects that, besides protecting the