this to this registry service. the central bank has in this regard been supportive of the integrated population registry service ( iprs ). the iprs has been a useful tool for financial institutions to validate the identity of their customers. we have asked all banks to utilise the iprs in their know your customer checks and mitigate fraud risk. the national digital registry will build on the iprs and provide an even more powerful tool for the financial sector and especially for smes. the central bank therefore stands ready to support this important initiative and work with the financial sector to utilise it. through the register, financial institutions will be able to meet the statutory legal and regulatory requirements for anti - money laundering ( aml ) and bis central bankers ’ speeches combatting the financing of terrorism ( cft ) and the common frauds in banks that we see every day. aml / cft has become an issue of global concern and mitigating measures are important to ensure the integrity of kenya ’ s financial sector. ladies and gentlemen : of importance also is the ease of access to credit. a central repository of personal and corporate information will facilitate banks in their credit risk appraisal. this should not only ease access to credit but also reduce the cost of credit given the lower search costs. finally the register will also reduce the risk of fraud particularly identity theft and reduce the operational cost of fraud to the financial sector. these are but a few of the benefits of the national digital registry that i can enumerate and also stress that personal and corporate information and identification in the national digital registry service is a major milestone in completing the financial infrastructure requirements in our country. i am sure that this will be a useful consultation forum and you can count on the central banks ’ support and together we develop a stable and vibrant financial sector. thank you. bis central bankers ’ speeches

philipp hildebrand : global economic prospects and key challenges for monetary policy summary of a speech by mr philipp hildebrand, member of the governing board of the swiss national bank, at the money market event, zurich, 23 march 2006. the complete speech can be found in german on the swiss national bank ’ s website ( www. snb. ch ) * * * summary current economic developments are basically in line with the snb ’ s expectations. global economic activity is robust and the outlook is bright. the snb expects broad - based growth of over 2 % for 2006 and a moderate rate of inflation of approximately 1 %. in addition to the usual economic risks, monetary policy today is faced with three key challenges. first, the effects of globalisation on inflation must be anticipated. second, the way in which the interaction between globalisation and an ample supply of liquidity affects the price development of several assets needs to be analysed. the snb's monetary policy concept enables it to take a long - term view and to recognise possible distortions early on. third, identifying the neutral interest rate has become more difficult in today's environment. many factors tend to support a lower neutral interest rate, while others would support a higher neutral rate. against this background, the snb will continue the gradual normalisation of its monetary policy. the scale and timing of this normalisation process will depend on further economic developments. owing to a favourable inflation trend and well - anchored inflation expectations, we are in a position to cautiously approach a neutral interest rate level.