capacity - building program. 5. the bank has also spearheaded the establishment of the central securities depository ( csd ) for electronic documentation of all securities, which ensures virtually instantaneous security of title. it is expected that listings on the stock exchange would migrate to the csd. as banks increasingly engage in universal banking, capital market activities would become important and the integration of the banking and capital market operations would be facilitated by these payment and depository systems. mr. chairman, it is clear that the central bank has been putting in place the payments system infrastructure that would facilitate a competitive, efficient banking sector. and the banks on their part have been introducing new services and modernizing their systems. we notice, however, that competition is not well reflected in the pricing of banks ’ services and there is a general feeling of market participants that banks are over - pricing risks in the economy judged by real interest rate spreads ; this may be as a result of information asymmetry. yet corporate banking responsibility requires that banks deliver 1. efficient services at competitive rates. in view of this, we are working to put in place another piece of infrastructure, the credit reporting bill to underpin the establishment of credit reference bureaux. the draft bill should be passed into law this year. it should facilitate credit risk assessment and foster a culture of repayment of loans. 2. mr. chairman, as we honour banks for excellence, let me at the risk of dampening some of the exuberance on display, by noting that the consumer complaints unit at the bank of ghana has received and dealt with a number of complaints by customers of banks. these complaints normally border on unfair banking practices and include ; high interest charges on loans and overdrafts, high bank charges on transactions, non - payment of interest on savings accounts, delays in crediting interest on treasury bills, and high initial deposit and minimum operating balances. i hope that the recipients of the various awards are not that much guilty of such practices. 3. mr. chairman, global developments in regulation and supervision of banking is shifting to a focus on risk and the holding of commensurate level of capital. basel ii, the new capital framework to be implemented in 2007 by the advanced countries, is a risk - based framework. 4. for our banking system to remain competitive, the players must understand the risks they undertake and be able to measure and manage them profitably. in line with that we are re - orienting our supervisory focus away from

since the crisis, they have even begun to build a banking union, which includes a single supervisor. but when it comes to regulation, we still see differences between countries. it is true, of course, that we have a single rulebook in europe. as one might expect for a union, 1 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches we had to come further than other countries. however, parts of that rulebook come in the form of eu directives. and these still need to be transposed into national law, which explains some of the differences we see. so regulation in the euro area remains fragmented. but this runs counter to the idea of “ same business, same risk, same rules ” ; and it runs counter to the idea of the european banking union. so there is a clear case to be made for further harmonising the rules. we need a well - written rulebook to keep risks in the banking sector in check. but rules are just one of the pillars that support a stable banking sector. the second pillar is supervision. and here we need to strike a delicate balance because these two pillars interact in a subtle way. the general idea is that rules create the foundations for supervisors to do their job. there is a danger, though. if the rulebook becomes too detailed, it might wall supervisors in and limit their options too much, rather than provide them with solid foundations. and this can happen fairly quickly. by way of example, just think of speed limits. let ’ s say you want to set a speed limit for motorways. does 120 kilometres per hour sound about right? at first sight, this is a very simple and straightforward rule. but then you start to think – what if there ’ s a sharp and dangerous bend in the road? wouldn ’ t that call for a lower speed limit? and what if the road becomes slippery when it rains? perhaps the speed limit should depend on the weather? and shouldn ’ t it also depend on the kind of vehicle? one could easily think of many more questions like these. so even a seemingly simple rule can quickly start to become more and more complicated. the world is complex and uncertain, particularly when it comes to finance and banking. that leaves us with two options. either we come up with more rules to try to cover every potential situation. or we allow supervisors some discretion within a set framework and let them judge specific situations on their merits. in the end, these two options need to be in balance, and we