supports st. kizito litein school for the deaf. i will pause here for a brief video link on this initiative. the school came to the limelight when they won one of the cbk sponsored categories during the 2016 kenya music festival. as indicated in the clip, we have completed a number of infrastructural developments at the school. this includes construction of a dormitory, renovation works for their classes as well as provision of water storage tanks. as i draw to a close, we are collectively, taking the right steps. however, this is just a starting point. today the app has 100 phrases. for most spoken languages, the target for a beginner is 250 – 500 words. with 1, 000 – 3, 000 words you can carry on a regular conversation. i don ’ t know how this translates to sign language phrases for banking, but my challenge to you is to work steadfastly to improve the scope of the app and make it more useful for all. let us also endeavor to incorporate the needs of all categories of persons with disabilities in the banking sector. indeed, a society is at its best, when it leaves no one behind. it is now my distinct pleasure to declare the deaf elimu banking application officially launched. thank you. 2 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches

hedgefund intelligence ) set the assets in global hedge funds at about 2. 0 trillion u. s. dollars by the end of 2006, of which nearly 1. 5 trillions in u. s. funds, roughly 450 billions in european funds and 150 billions in asian funds. fig. 4 - global hedge fund assets ( billions of u. s. dollars ) 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 sources : hedge fund research, world federation of exchanges ( fibv ), bank for international settlements ( bis ) and swiss re economic research & consulting. • an important dimension of the greater diversification of risk has been the increased international financial integration. in the last decade industrial countries ’ gross external financial assets and liabilities more than doubled in proportion to gdp, reaching 320 per cent ( fig. 5 ). fig. 5 - gross stocks of foreign financial assets and liabilities ( sum of financial assets and liabilities in percent of gdp ) industrial countries emerging countries source : imf ( lane – milesi - ferretti database ). ( 1 ) for each group, weighted average calculated using gdp weights. as a consequence, the range of financing and investment opportunities available to economic agents widened, as reflected in the composition of the balance sheets of firms and households. in particular : • the set of corporate finance instruments used by euro - area firms has broadened. in the first three years after the introduction of the single currency, the net issuance of corporate bonds accelerated dramatically ( fig. 6 ). the marked deceleration that has been observed in the most recent years reflects, on one side, the impact of corporate scandals, but also, on the other side, the greater availability of bank credit resulting from credit market innovations. fig. 6 - external financing of euro - area non - financial corporations ( net issuance ; annual growth rates ) total external financing bank loans quoted shares debt securities source : ecb. • the market has also broadened, not only in terms of the instruments available but also with respect to the increasing access of a larger number of firms, including those with lower ratings. this increased availability of funds has been extensively used to finance m & a activities. • between 1995 and 2006 the composition of euro - area households ’ financial assets has progressively shifted away from traditional instruments, such as banknotes and deposits, to more sophisticated financial assets whose prices are more sensitive to market movements and credit risk. the share of bonds,