solutions and increasingly complex security layers. another trend that we have observed of late is the outsourcing of credit and other payment card services to specialist third parties. this is mainly done to benefit from the expertise of the third party which may not be available in - house and / or as cost - cutting measure. however, there is very often over - reliance and inadequate diligence on the service providers. our licensees are required to strictly follow the risk management principles enunciated in the guideline on outsourcing for financial institutions issued by the bank of mauritius and address the risks inherent in outsourcing. outsourcing of those activities would have to be approved by the board of directors of the financial institution in the first instance and subsequently by the bank of mauritius. in addition, the outsourcing of such services is contingent upon the third party service providers agreeing that their services are subject to regulation and examination by the bank of mauritius to the same extent as if such services were being performed in - house. so much for the role of the bank of mauritius in ensuring that banks and other financial institutions have systems in place that deter card - related fraud. but the fight against fraud calls for the active involvement of other stakeholders. customers, on their part, have to act in a responsible manner. simple things like following the recommended fraud prevention advice – which is quick and simple to follow – can considerably reduce the chances of falling prey to fraudsters. it is however essential that card issuing banks and card associations regularly run awareness campaigns for the benefit of consumers. an ancillary issue relates to customer grievances in respect of credit cards. in this context, i make an appeal to banks for greater transparency and disclosure, since there is often an asymmetry of information, both written and oral, between the card - issuing bank who has complete information and the card holders who very often do not have complete information on their rights. in particular, we have observed that card issuing banks provide enormous information to their customers but the language used is legal terminology which is not easily understandable to ordinary customers. in addition, the written information is often printed in very small print which hinders easy readability, and important information is buried with other information. there are no standards in this regard among the card issuing banks. i take this opportunity to encourage card issuing banks to adopt a more customer - friendly approach with clear terms and conditions for card issue and usage, in simple language comprehensible to a lay

industries was 6. 4 percent, up from the june tankan. in the household sector, the employment and income situation has been improving steadily ; as a result, private consumption has been resilient. turning to labor market conditions, the active job openings - to - applicants ratio is currently 1. 24, a level last seen in 1992, and the unemployment rate has declined to 3. 1 percent, a level last seen in 1995. thus, labor market conditions have continued to tighten and japan is in a situation close to “ full employment. ” as seen in the diffusion index for employment conditions released in the september tankan, firms ’ perception that they are facing a shortage of labor has intensified, and labor market bis central bankers ’ speeches conditions seem to continue to be tight despite the flattening of exports and production ( chart 2 ). with corporate profits having risen to historically high levels and the tightening in labor market conditions continuing, there has been upward pressure on wages. scheduled cash earnings have been increasing on a year - on - year basis for three consecutive quarters since the turn of the year, reflecting in part increases in base pay, which has gone up for two years in a row. moreover, various surveys suggest that summer bonuses this year were raised again following the substantial increase last year ( chart 3 ). on the back of the steady improvements in the employment and income situation, private consumption in the julyseptember quarter increased on a quarter - on - quarter basis. taking, in addition, more recent anecdotal evidence into account, the bank judges that private consumption has been resilient. with a virtuous cycle from income to spending in both the corporate and household sectors in place, japan is likely to continue to see real gdp growth through fiscal 2016 of about 1. 0 – 1. 5 percent. this rate exceeds japan ’ s potential growth rate, which is currently estimated to be around 0. 5 percent or lower. prices let me turn to prices. the year - on - year rate of change in the consumer price index ( cpi, all items less fresh food ), which was minus 0. 5 percent just before the introduction of qqe, increased to as high as 1. 5 percent in april 2014, excluding the effects of the consumption tax hike. however, reflecting the substantial decline in crude oil prices since the summer of 2014, annual cpi inflation declined and has been about 0 percent in recent months ( chart 4 ). nevertheless, once the effect