and simple principles and beliefs of the grameen bank ’ s success story that have defied the conventional commercial thinking over the years are : institutions create poverty and not the poor ; poverty cannot be eradicated by charity ; no difference in the ability of the poor person and any other person ; understanding the needs of the poor and designing of the credit delivery system accordingly ; trust and firm belief that poor people will pay - back ; and finally lending to women brings greater benefit and maximises the uses of limited resources. more simply put, grameen philosophy centered on the theme of promoting credit as a human right. this philosophy, combined into action on the ground, delivered grameen bank where it is today. as the famous saying goes, fine words and intentions are not enough until and unless they are transformed into action. but of course, we know now, that microfinance is more than just provision of microcredit. microfinance is intertwined with access and provision of credit, basic banking services and also provision of insurance services and financial literacy. the development of microfinance : experience of fiji let me now share with you our experiences in fiji. i intend to first provide an analysis of microfinance in fiji and outline the major challenges facing us. finally, i will elaborate a little on the role of the reserve bank of fiji in promoting microfinance in fiji. the first microfinance initiative was established by the ministry of women, social welfare and poverty alleviation in 1993. i believe this was done with the assistance of nz aid. this initiative was based on the grameen bank model. soon after, we saw the establishment of two new private initiatives – seeds and anandpur. seeds ( abbreviated for social and economic equity for the disadvantaged ) and anandpur were community based microfinance institutes that received technical assistance and funding from the national microfinance unit, the udnp, ministry of women and ba rotary club. in the early 1990s, the reserve bank of fiji started taking an interest in examining how best to develop and promote microfinance nationwide. first, we provided awareness to our staff by sending them to international conferences and also to visit countries with successful microfinance schemes. i also personally benefited through such awareness trips to some asian countries and saw firsthand the role the governments, private sector and ngos played in the promotion and development of microfinance. recognising that we needed to have a national strategy, the reserve bank of fiji conducted a national survey on

zeti akhtar aziz : three trends and their post - crisis implications speech by dr zeti akhtar aziz, governor of the central bank of malaysia, at the inaugural official monetary and financial institutions forum ( omfif ) global lecture, frankfurt, 1 march 2010. * * * it is my great pleasure to be here in frankfurt to participate in this inaugural omfif meeting, and to speak at this evening ’ s inaugural lecture at the goethe university. these are significant times for policymakers and the financial industry. as we come out of the worst international financial crisis in decades, there still remain some unresolved issues that need to be addressed. the recovery has prompted focus on exit strategies and on the search for more permanent solutions that will put the financial system on a more solid foundation. these issues are however being considered during a period of exceptional conditions. of concern, is that this might significantly influence the direction of the reform agenda with its medium and long term implications which could be counter to solutions that would lead us to a path of stability and sustainable growth. my remarks this evening will focus on three trends that are gaining significance in the global economy and the international financial system and their implications as we progress forward in this post crisis era. the first, is the increasing significance of asia in the global economy ; second, the extensive international regulatory reforms that is being envisaged by the international community ; and third, the rapid growth of islamic finance and its integration into the international financial system. these trends are set to become significantly more pronounced in the aftermath of this global financial crisis. asia and the global economy after one of the worst economic crises in modern history, the global economy is now on the path of recovery but with a pace that is set to be uneven. there is now a global shift taking place arising from an increasing growth divergence between the advanced and emerging economies resulting in a change in the configuration of the global economy. this is not only a consequence of the crisis related factors but also due to structural factors prevailing prior to the crisis. we have seen extraordinary and unprecedented measures been taken by the advanced economies to restore stability and the functioning of the financial systems, and to contain the effects of the financial crisis on the economy. while a catastrophe has been averted, the recovery in the advanced world continues to be reliant on policy support, with structural factors yet to be addressed. the imf ’ s projection is for growth in the advanced economies for the period 2009 and 2014 to