rock – which did not prove to be resilient to some shocks arising from some distant markets that he is having a such tough time. what i want to say, is that your business model is your business and the business of your directors, your chief executive and your shareholders. it's up to you to ensure that you are profitable. “ bank different ”, yes, but bank prudent as well. “ bank prudent, always! ” is what i say. we, at the central bank, have put rules and guidelines in the interest of the wider jurisdiction. we have to protect the consumer, the borrower and the lender as well. we want to have an efficient financial sector that can be benchmarked internationally. we want a clean jurisdiction. we are too small a jurisdiction to be able to afford a crisis like northern rock. banking is about risks. you must take risks but you must be aware of the risks that you are taking. the central bank may not know the risks, but you as bankers know your clients. we look at systemic risk but the risks of your bank, the threats to your business model, that's your business. we intend to allow the market to operate fully, whether it's the interbank market or the foreign exchange market. may, i draw your attention to the fact that we have not been intervening on the foreign exchange market lately inspite of pressures to do so. our policy at the bank is to intervene only if we are faced with excessive volatility. we cannot go against economic fundamentals. we are certainly not averse to market - supporting interventions. but we have no other specific targets to achieve. may i conclude my remarks with the hope that afrasia bank will build on the competence of all its partners including loita capital partners, whom we welcome to our shores and to our financial jurisdiction. i hope that it will build on the long and rich history of groupe mon loisir, within this historic setting which served as head office for one of our old colonial trading houses. this building has a very special cachet and its own atmospherics and with it, afrasia bank acquires an instant history! may it serve it well. i wish afrasia bank the very best of success. thank you for your attention.

. • we continue to require that examiners rotate to another institution after three to five years. this tenure allows enough time to gain an understanding of a firm without sacrificing examiner independence. • we have taken concrete steps to encourage examiners to speak up, which we view as a core competency. for example, we evaluate examiners on their level of engagement with colleagues and their willingness to share insights. • we created programs to encourage peer recognition of good ideas, including funding for new supervision ideas proposed and voted on by supervisory staff. • we increased the opportunities for feedback to senior managers, including the head of supervision, in addition to other channels already provided by the new york fed. among other improvements, we conduct regular town halls and provide a standing, on - line forum as a device to funnel questions to group leaders. in both settings, questions and answers are offered in an open, transparent manner. • and we require examination teams to spend more time at new york fed headquarters and less time “ in the field. ” additional time at headquarters promotes cross - firm discussion and direct communication between senior managers and examiners. for example, we offer a seminar series at which group leaders discuss key issues in supervision with our supervision staff. each and together, these improvements to the substance and process of supervision contribute to financial stability by providing greater insight into bank resiliency and risk. but these enhancements are not self - executing. they depend on the hundreds of examiners who are dedicated professionals working in the public interest. our examiners fulfill their obligations with considerable care, mindful of the stakes to main street when something goes wrong on wall street. i am grateful for their efforts. iv. reasonable expectations before concluding, let me offer a broader view of what we at the federal reserve expect from prudential supervision. very briefly, i submit that supervision should be fair, conscientious, and effective. fair supervision means that the rules are applied consistently across the firms we supervise. we all need to know the rules and follow the same rule book. it also entails a commitment to independence from business or political influence, as envisioned by the federal reserve act one hundred years ago. conscientious supervision means we must be committed to sustained and, if necessary, radical self - improvement. the beim report is an example of our willingness to commission and accept self - critical analysis and our commitment to improve. but we cannot stop there. to this end, we will be working with