njuguna ndung ’ u : the importance of information sharing and collaboration among financial sector supervisors remarks by prof njuguna ndung ’ u, governor of the central bank of kenya, at the launch of the kenya commercial bank supervisory college, kenya school of monetary studies, nairobi, 3 october 2012. * * * the imf east afritac officials here present ; distinguished delegates from the eac partner states central banks here present ; dr. martin oduor otieno, kenya commercial bank group chief executive officer ; distinguished participants ; ladies and gentlemen : the central bank of kenya is delighted to host this inaugural meeting of a supervisory college in the east african region. this is a great milestone for the region ’ s central banks in enhancing the existing mechanisms for information sharing and collaboration. at the onset, let me commend the imf ’ s east afritac for their unwavering support towards enhanced stability of the banking sector in the region. today ’ s launch of the pioneering supervisory college has been made possible through the technical assistance and capacity building by the east afritac. i would like to thank all those who have contributed to the organisation of this meeting. let me also extend a warm welcome to all participants. ladies and gentlemen : the requirement for enhanced information sharing and collaboration among financial sector supervisors has gained more prominence recently. this is informed by the continued cross - border expansion of financial sector players as well as the convergence of their cross - sector operations. as a result, for us to be able to adequately address all potential risks from the continued convergence of players and their cross - border expansion, the time to embrace consolidated supervision within and across our borders is at hand. as you may be aware the importance of cooperation between home and host regulators of banking groups dates back three to four decades ago. the basel committee for banking supervision developed guidelines in 1975 to guide cooperation between national authorities in the supervision of banks with cross - border establishments. these guidelines were enhanced with the issuance of the basel core principles on effective supervision in 1997, in particular, basel core principle 24 on consolidated supervision which requires that supervisors should regulate banking groups on a consolidated basis, and basel core principle 25 on home - host relationships ( cross - border consolidated supervision ) which requires cooperation and information exchange between home supervisors and the host supervisors. ladies and gentlemen : following financial crises experienced from 2007, the importance of information sharing and collaboration between banking group supervisors, especially through supervisory colleges, was re - emphasised by

njuguna ndung ’ u : increasing the level of financial inclusion in kenya remarks by prof njuguna ndung ’ u, governor of the central bank of kenya, at the african rural and agricultural credit association ( afraca ) international exposure visit to kenya, kenya school of monetary studies, nairobi, 5 may 2014. * * * mr. saleh usman gashua, the secretary general, afraca ; mr. isaac awuondo, group ceo, commercial bank of africa ; distinguished participants ; ladies and gentlemen : it is my honour to extend a warm welcome to all of you to nairobi and specifically to the kenya school of monetary studies ( ksms ). i note with satisfaction the continued partnership that the african rural and agricultural credit association ( afraca ) and ksms have established. as afraca aspires to promote quality financial services to the rural and agricultural communities in africa, it is complemented by ksms ’ s vision of being a world class research based capacity building institution for the financial sector in africa. ladies and gentlemen : in an effort to confront poverty, that currently afflicts more than 1 billion people in the world, most of whom are in the developing countries, financial inclusion has been seen as one of the channels that can significantly reduce poverty sustainably. this is because access to financial services by the poor provides a safe haven for their savings and widens their economic opportunities through savings - investment cycles. however, in africa and other developing countries in asia and latin america, 90 % of the population do not have access to financial services. closer home, 80 % of the adult population in sub - saharan africa do not have access to financial services ( cgap, 2011 ). in this regard, for the world and africa in particular to catapult the efforts to reduce poverty, concerted action to increase access, uptake and use of financial services should be rolled out. ladies and gentlemen : several reasons have been put forward to account for the low level of financial inclusion in africa. key among these reasons are poverty, irregular income flows, high levels of financial illiteracy, high financial costs, social and cultural beliefs, and underdeveloped financial markets. acknowledging the important role that financial inclusion plays in economic development, none of the cited barriers to financial inclusion is insurmountable. what is required is for financial service providers, the government and its agencies as well as the consumers to jointly contribute in eliminating the barriers