more collaborative discussions also in the areas of macro - prudential and general risk - based supervision. such discussions should translate to some initiatives for future capacity building and implementation of frameworks in our respective jurisdictions. financial inclusion and financial literacy ladies and gentlemen, we all know that a greater majority of our people in the pacific are financially excluded or unbanked. there is a clear call for action in the area of financial inclusion and financial literacy. since the setting of the alliance for financial inclusion ( afi ), central banks globally, and clearly in our region also, are taking the forefront in leading efforts to ensure banking services reach the unbanked. almost all pacific islands central banks have announced their commitment to the afi maya declaration with timor leste being the latest in the region to declare its commitment in the recent afi global policy forum this month. bis central bankers ’ speeches it is not the traditional activity of the central banks to lead this work but we cannot sit back and expect something to just happen, for we know that nothing happen in the past. we have to develop policy frameworks and provide environments conducive for our financial institutions to bring their banking services to the un - banked. the central banks have succeeded in undertaking lead roles due to their institutional credibility to ensure that the unbanked populations in the region is included in the monetization of our respective economies. human capacity development ladies and gentlemen, in order for us to enhance our supervisory approaches and to effectively discharge our supervisory responsibilities as mentioned, we need to develop our human capacity and equip our supervisors well. we have to continue to put emphasis and resources in this area to ensure our human capital is in tune with constant changes in risk profiles of our financial sectors. you would have noticed that the skill set required for supervision has expanded as financial services have become complex. the constant adoption of technological innovations and enhanced financial products being developed and offered by our financial institutions means that we also need to train and develop technically competent supervisors to keep abreast with the changes. conclusion before i finish, i wish everyone a fruitful week. i am sure that at the end of this week, you will have discussed issues, challenges and developments in your respective supervisory jurisdiction and your plans going forward. i presume these discussions and networking with each other will be very beneficial in our efforts to have a sound and stable financial system in our region. having said that i wish everyone who has travelled in a memorable and enjoyable stay in port moresby.

relative to established dwellings in some states. bis central bankers ’ speeches their mortgages ahead of schedule. this means that for a given growth rate of new lending, credit growth will be a bit lower than otherwise. we can see this effect in the behaviour of owner - occupier housing credit. from early 2012, shortly after mortgage rates started to decline, owner - occupier housing credit has been growing at a slower pace than investor housing credit ( graph 6 ). this makes sense because the incentive to make excess mortgage payments is greater for owner - occupiers than investors given the different tax incentives they face. while finance is available to households on relatively favourable terms, some developers continue to report difficulties in obtaining finance for new construction, with banks requiring a higher proportion of pre - sales than was typical prior to the global financial crisis. according to the reserve bank ’ s industry liaison, large developers that have a good reputation and a strong balance sheet have access to credit, while small developers have tended to experience more difficulty in borrowing funds. dwelling investment the availability and relatively low cost of finance for home purchasers combined with improving conditions in the established housing market have been supporting dwelling construction in recent quarters. the expectation is that dwelling investment will continue to pick up from here. however, it is hard to know how strong this pick - up is likely to be. private residential building approvals, though volatile, have picked up noticeably from their trough in early 2012 ( graph 7 ). this recovery has been driven by an increase in higherdensity approvals, mainly apartments, and was seen in all the larger states. across almost every major region in sydney, building approvals since mid - 2012 have been higher than they were in the previous five years ( graph 8 ). in melbourne approvals have also picked up, though by somewhat less and not across all regions. there has been some pick - up in approvals in western australia, although changes in building approvals processes in that state around the middle of last year have made it more difficult to discern the underlying trends. approvals in queensland have been subdued, particularly on the gold coast and in the south - east of the state more generally ; however, even builders in that region have indicated to us that there are tentative signs of some improvement in demand more recently. while building approvals for higher - density housing have picked up, as yet there has been little sign of a rise in approvals for detached houses. 4 indeed, building