reserve bank of fiji welcome address by governor of the reserve bank of fiji, barry whiteside, at the official launch and unveiling of fiji rugby 7s commemorative banknote and coin grand pacific hotel, suva, 20th april, 2017 salutations hon. prime minister hon. ministers, hon. speaker and members of the parliament the tui suva chief justice board directors of the reserve bank of fiji ben ryan, osea kolinisau and members of our olympics gold medal winning team distinguished guests reserve bank of fiji colleagues ladies and gentlemen introduction and welcome bula vinaka and a very good evening to you all on this very special occasion! an occasion when we once again come together to relive a truly great moment in our small nation ’ s history and thank those special people who brought us so much joy through their tremendous feat in rio back in august last year. i must also say a special warm welcome “ home ” to ben! we were so pleased when you accepted our invitation. it would be remiss of me not to recognise gareth baber and our current 7 ’ s gladiators, who reminded us just how good we are by demolishing south africa in hong kong just 12 days ago! despite the slight hiccup against a very focused usa team last weekend in singapore, you continue to spread the joy across our nation and we thank you. honoring the gold medal win ladies and gentlemen, even before the olympic games we at the reserve bank were excited about our medal chances. some of us came up short of saying it would be gold, but we were quietly confident it would be so. reserve bank of fiji so we were already thinking how we could honor such a feat by our team. as a central bank the only way we could think of, apart from taking money from our vault and handing it to the players ( which would land us all in gaol! ), was to honor them on our currency. you will recall we did this in celebrating iliesa delana ’ s great win in the f42 high jump event and our first para - olympic gold medal in london back in 2012. so when the rio rugby 7s title became ours, the deal was sealed and we put in train the processes which led us to today ’ s event! many may ask why so late? this is nearly nine months after rio. i would like to say even though this may be the case, the euphoria still has not died down, at least

to highlight some of these major accomplishments : • the enhancement to its life product offering through the launch of the bula prime product in 2011. • the re - branding of dominion house to bsp life centre, which now accommodates all of bsp life ’ s operations. • the opening of a new customer services centre on the ground floor of bsp life centre. i am told that walk - in customers are averaging 2, 000 per week, double what they were before the office opened. • the opening of a lautoka office, to complement the nadi branch and to provide greater service to customers in the west. • the rollout of new medical products earlier this year, including the introduction of an india evacuation product at very affordable premiums. i understand that bsp life has partnered with the world renowned apollo chain in india which provides a broad range of specialist medical services. access to india is now seamless via hong kong or seoul and the quality of services at apollo, i am told, is world class. in 2012 apollo treated over 60, 000 international patients at their delhi facility alone. i think these numbers provide some indication of the acknowledgement of the quality of the treatment available. bis central bankers ’ speeches • in so far as investments go, the bsp life portfolio has grown to $ 323 million. most of this money is invested in fiji, helping to provide employment for our people and helping to grow our economy. • i also note the strong financial standing of the business as publicly declared in the company ’ s recent key disclosure statement for 2012. this augurs well for future growth and ongoing returns to bsp life policy holders. i am pleased to note a significant investment in marketing by the bsp group to create awareness of the need to invest and protect our financial future. with the take - up of life insurance at less than 15 percent of our population, bsp life has taken a lead role in creating awareness of the critical need for us to have insurance and protect our loved ones. bsp life and bsp bank have also been key partners, along with other stakeholders, in the reserve bank of fiji ’ s ongoing efforts to promote financial inclusion and financial literacy in fiji. launch of bula elite and concluding remarks ladies and gentlemen, it is clear that bsp life has strongly established itself in life and health insurance in the fiji market over such a short period of time. tonight is another special milestone in the company ’ s growth as a major player in fiji ’