##mittances dot the continent. safaricom, in kenya, has harnessed mobile telephony to deliver a range of services to meet previously unmet needs and stimulate growth. these include new products such as weather insurance to help farmers manage climate risks, equipment leasing to help small enterprises, and acceptance of warehouse receipts as security to push financing into agricultural value - chains. it enables low - income households to manage their lives more effectively through mobile payments, microcredit, no - frills accounts, and micro - health insurance. these developments are key transmission channels for growth and development. long - term finance is crucial for africa ’ s development for equipment leases especially for farmers, for investment in essential infrastructure such as power and roads, and to upgrade the housing stock. but getting banks to go in this direction remains a challenge across africa. by international standards, african banking remains expensive and poorly adapted to local needs. bis central bankers ’ speeches african banks are starting to respond to the demand. during the crisis, some international banks turned out to be fair - weather friends, downsizing, retrenching, or even closing when african economies were at their most vulnerable. others, based in international money centres, withdrew or reduced trade lines. local banks, including central banks assuming their developmental role, stepped smartly into the breach. although african banks are small, 40 of them made it in the top 1000 world banks in 2011. they are also among the world ’ s most profitable, according to a survey by the banker, which supports the contention that africa is a land of high returns. of those who had not made it to the top 1000 banks, we find many african banks lining up to join their ranks. of the top 10 global lenders in this next group of 1000, measured by return on capital ( roc ), five are african. of the top 10 with the highest return on assets ( roa ), seven are african. overall, african banks – there are 17 in this survey – made average roa ’ s of 3. 65 per cent [ on an unweighted basis ] and roc ’ s of 35 per cent. these levels are far higher than the next profitable region, namely, south america, where banks made returns of 1. 95 per cent on their assets and 19. 6 per cent on their capital. the investment needs of africa are huge. africa has to grow and explore other ways of attracting finance and capital. there is ample room for public - private partnership

yandraduth googoolye : security and risk regarding the use of cards in mauritius keynote address by mr yandraduth googoolye, first deputy governor of the bank of mauritius, at the launch event of visa card security week 2011, port - louis, 11 october 2011. * * * ladies and gentlemen it is an honour for me to be invited to this audience this morning to share my views on the security and risk environment regarding the use of cards in mauritius. electronic money is projected to take over from physical cash for a large part of small - value payments, and continues to evoke considerable interest both among the public and the various authorities concerned, including central banks. the electronic money developments raise policy issues for central banks as regards the possible implications for their revenues, implementation of monetary policy and payment system oversight role. indeed, it is by virtue of this very last role – maintaining the clearing, payment and settlement system that we take an interest in cards, in the broader context of maintaining financial stability. mauritians increasingly use cards to make payments. in recent years plastic cards ( credit, debit and other cards ) have gained wide acceptance and their use has become popular in the country. the total number of cards issued by banks and outstanding increased from 700, 000 as at end - june 2001 to 1. 3 million as at end - june 2011. likewise, the actual usage has registered increases both in terms of volume and value i. e. from 1. 6 million transactions amounting to rs 2. 4 billion at end - june 2001 to 4. 1 million transactions aggregating rs 7. 7 billion at end - june 2011. these figures are expected to increase even further with the initiative of some banks to provide prepaid cards to an even more sophisticated and demanding clientele. in view of such a widespread use of cards, issues relating to the regulation of this payment mode as well as those relating to customer protection assume considerable importance. the functioning of the card payment system should not present any risks to the payment and settlement systems in particular and to the country ’ s financial system in general. the use of cards is so entrenched in the habits of the population that a serious disruption that affects the entire card system, or large parts of the system, would have serious consequences for the ability of people to make payments. if card payments do not work, then the entire payment system will be disrupted. the bank ’ s responsibility for a safe and efficient payment system