mary c nkosi : mobile banking in malawi address by mrs mary c nkosi, deputy governor of the reserve bank of malawi, at the official launching of mobile banking services by opportunity international bank malawi ( oibm ), lilongwe, 27 march 2008. * * * the chairman, mr francis pelekamoyo, and your fellow board members the chief executive of oibm, mr rodger voorhies invited guests ladies and gentlemen i am very honoured to be here this morning to witness yet another milestone in the history of opportunity international bank malawi ( oibm ) – the official launching of a mobile banking service. first of all, on behalf of the governor of reserve bank of malawi, and indeed on my own behalf, i would like to congratulate oibm for its visible effort in making banking services available to all people, particularly the rural masses in a manner that is convenient to them. this is evidenced by the increasing number of customers and retail outlets it has opened since commencing banking operations a few years ago. statistics show that oibm is one of the largest private sector microfinance providers in malawi. over the years, we have witnessed great innovation by oibm through its focus on small scale saving, salary and wage payment systems and focus on paperless banking. today, i am pleased yet again to witness another great drive by oibm to further deepen the financial sector in malawi. mobile banking will provide a mechanism through which financial services will be penetrated to sectors not currently being served by traditional banking. i have been informed that the bank will serve over 10, 000 customers through its three mobile units. i am further informed that some mobile units will have mounted auto teller machines ( atms ). this, i must say, is quite commendable and in line with government ’ s objective of empowering rural masses by bringing financial services to their door - step. i therefore would like to applaud both, the board and management for their efforts and hard work in this regard. as regulators, our primary objective is to safeguard the interests of the depositors and the general public by among other things constantly monitoring the safety and soundness of banks. this is why we take keen interest in banking facilities or projects that aim to serve the public better. i am glad to acknowledge here this morning the efforts oibm has made in complying with our requirements in this area. i am also pleased to note the satisfactory financial performance of the

exchange was conceived, not just to facilitate capital raising but also to accord malawians the opportunity to participate in the creation of wealth through investments in stock and debt instruments. the basic ingredients were there in the form of blue chip companies, especially the assets of the then malawi development corporation ( mdc ), admarc holdings, press group of companies, the nico group, and the wellestablished long - term government debt. with support from these conglomerates and the mccci, the reserve bank established a working group to conceptualize and establish the malawi stock exchange ( mse ) in 1994. in the absence of adequate script, and with only government debt, the setting up of the mse followed a model already functioning in botswana. thus, the process started with the establishment of stockbrokers malawi limited ( sml ) with dual functions of a brokerage firm and to operationalize the exchange. the major activity of sml was secondary market trading in government of malawi securities namely ; treasury bills and local registered stocks. the listing of nico in 1996 brought to fruition equity trading. the mse later separated from sml and the rest is history. over the years, the exchange has grown, it now boasts of 12 domestic listed companies, 1 foreign listed company and two treasury bonds. the companies listed on the exchange cover a number of sectors such as financial services, tourism, manufacturing, telecommunications and real estate. 2 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches the exchange has played a crucial role in according investors an alternative investment avenue that enables individuals own part of the stake in large companies. it has also helped companies raise finance for growth and expansion or simply for capital restructuring. we have in recent days witnessed the latter, where mpico, a listed company, successfully completed one of the largest rights issues on the malawi stock exchange, raising k9. 0 billion. this rights issue, especially given the difficult macroeconomic conditions, is proof that with vision and hard work, capital raising is possible. notwithstanding the mpico rights issue, we can all agree that after two decades of its existence, the exchange is still in its nascent stage. first, it remains the smallest exchange in the sadc region. its market capitalization at the end of 2015 stood at $ 1. 3 billion, compared with $ 2. 7 billion ( luse ), $ 3. 1 billion ( zse ) and $ 4. 5 billion ( bse ). and its 14 counters are fated against 23 ( luse )