participants resulted in a dramatic contraction of market activities. in response, central banks of major economies injected liquidity to financial markets through purchases of commercial paper and corporate bonds, and thus supported the continued functioning of markets. in this regard, the " lender of the last resort " function of central banks morphed into something broader by incorporating the " market maker of the last resort " function. meanwhile, it also became evident during the crisis that liquidity shortages in foreign currencies - - for example, resulting from the freezing of the currency swap market - - were extremely problematic, as the expanding global reach of financial institutions promoted financial intermediation in foreign currencies. accordingly, in 2007, the european central bank and the swiss national bank each entered into a swap arrangement with the u. s. federal reserve, enabling the two european central banks to supply u. s. dollar funds to financial institutions in their jurisdictions. after the collapse of lehman brothers, the bank of japan, the bank of england, and the bank of canada also entered into swap arrangements with the federal reserve, and in 2011, the individual arrangements evolved into a multilateral arrangement covering not only u. s. dollars but also other major currencies. one can say that, with the development of such a multilateral swap arrangement to supply foreign currency liquidity, the " lender of the last resort " function has developed into a " global lender of the last resort " function. this quick overview shows that the central bank is playing a bigger role with its " lender of the last resort " function. it could be safely said that we now have a more robust backstop as regards liquidity provision in the major currencies during market turmoil. the challenge ahead is to devise frameworks to deal with the case where a financial institution with a global reach faces foreign currency liquidity shortages for idiosyncratic reasons and the case involving non - major " local " currency liquidity shortages. for the bank of japan, potential systemic instability caused by shortages of foreign currency liquidity is an issue that requires prompt attention, in view of the fact that japanese financial institutions are expanding their global businesses, including in asia, while these institutions are still broadly enjoying good access to foreign currency funding. reflecting on these challenges, the bank of japan has decided to provide u. s. dollar liquidity to individual banks facing temporary dollar funding difficulties utilizing the bank's u. s. dollar - denominated assets. as to

success of the small and medium enterprise sector undoubtedly lies at the heart of the realisation of vision 2030. the four benefits provide us with a solution to kenyans who view banks as expensive, have barriers to entry and have high transaction costs of maintaining accounts. what kenyans need is access to bank accounts where they can save and transact easily. this move by equity indeed answers to that challenge. the central bank welcomes such innovations by the banking sector and is committed to the creation of an enabling regulatory environment towards this end. i would therefore urge the banking sector to seek innovative ways of leveraging on existing technologies and infrastructures to provide affordable and inclusive financial services to kenyans. mr. chairman, kenya can not develop, or even realize the aspirations of vision 2030, if the majority of kenyans at the bottom of the economic pyramid lack access to financial services such as savings, credit, payment / remittance systems, money transfers, insurance and pension. the example equity bank has shown here today takes us steps towards realization of this goal. these are steps to emulate for the growth and development of our financial sector. ladies and gentlemen : it is now my honour and pleasure to declare the equity bank mobile phone banking service officially launched. thank you.