speech of the governor on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the cbk honourable... it is my great honour and pleasure to welcome you today for marking the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the central bank of the republic of kosovo. it is my great pleasure to have representatives of local and international institutions among us today, without whom it would not be possible to achieve the successes we have achieved to date. therefore, on behalf of all cbk staff and on my behalf, i would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for all that you have done for us over the years and for the honour you have done to us by joining us in marking this very important anniversary for us. to better understand the situation we are in, and the way we are heading, it is a good idea to go back a little retrospectively to remember how we got here, and to use the past as a driving force to move towards a more successful future. the central bank of the republic of kosovo was established in 1999, at a time when kosovo was beginning to build all institutions from scratch. along with the establishment of institutions, the foundation of the market economy in our country was also beginning. faqe 1 nga 7 cbk as a new institution, in spite of the great efforts to organize the institution itself, where everything was starting from scratch, began to commit itself towards building the financial infrastructure necessary to create the conditions for the financial system to start functioning in kosovo. this way, the cbk soon began the activity of building the payment system, formulating the regulatory framework for the financial sector, and developing other functions necessary to serve the country's economy. the beginning of the cbk's operation coincided with the time when most of the countries in the region were about to complete the transition process, where the omissions made at the beginning of this process, made the transition lengthy and difficult. cbk showed high diligence and learned from the difficulties that other central banks of transition countries went through, and chose the model that proved successful in developing an efficient and sustainable financial sector. in this way, cbk laid the foundations of a financial system based on private ownership and from the beginning opened the doors for the entry of foreign financial institutions. in fact, it was foreign financial institutions, especially banks, which first started operating in kosovo, bringing contemporary financial industry experiences and restoring the trust of the local people in the financial system. also, the cbk has consistently followed a sound licensing policy

swaminathan j : governance in small finance banks - driving sustainable growth and stability keynote address by mr swaminathan j, deputy governor of the reserve bank of india, at the conference of directors of small finance banks, bengaluru, 27 september 2024. * * * chairpersons and directors of the boards of small finance banks ; chief executive officers of sfbs ; executive directors, chief general managers and colleagues from the reserve bank of india ; ladies and gentlemen. a very good morning to all of you. it is an honour to address this distinguished gathering in the inaugural conference of board of directors of small finance banks organised by the rbi. as has been mentioned, this conference is in continuation of the reserve bank's efforts to reach out to its supervised entities through a direct dialogue with their boards and top management. our objective is to reaffirm the importance of good governance for maintaining financial stability and fostering sustainable growth. in his address1 to the directors of public and private sector banks last year, the governor outlined a comprehensive 10 - point charter that addressed key aspects such as the role of the board, its independence, the importance of setting the tone from the top, etc. his speech serves as an excellent blueprint for regulatory expectations from the boards of directors, and i encourage you to review it if you haven't already. today, i would like to discuss three key issues with you : ( i ) the vital role of small finance banks in promoting financial inclusion, ( ii ) the necessity of strengthening governance and assurance functions for sustainable growth, and ( iii ) important considerations regarding business models and risks that boards should be mindful of. important financial inclusion objective of sfbs as you are aware, the licensing of small finance banks was introduced a decade ago, in 2014, with the primary objective of advancing financial inclusion. beyond serving as a vehicle to mobilise savings, sfbs were also envisioned to extend affordable credit to underserved and unorganised sectors, such as small and marginal farmers as well as small business units, by leveraging technology to reduce costs and improve accessibility. india, today, stands at a pivotal moment in her development trajectory. in the last 75 years, we have transformed ourselves from an agrarian economy into one driven by industry and services. however, translating our gdp into higher per capita gross national income comparable to developed economies will require a comprehensive approach towards inclusive and sustainable economic growth. this will inter - alia entail education, skill development, employment generation,