njuguna ndung ’ u : mobile and agency banking in kenya address by prof njuguna ndung ’ u, governor of the central bank of kenya, at the technical cooperation among developing countries programme on “ mobile and agency banking in kenya ”, kenya school of monetary studies, nairobi, 6 may 2013. * * * mr. saleh usman gashua, secretary general, afraca ; prof. kinandu muragu, executive director, ksms and afraca ’ s sub - regional chair for east africa ; facilitators ; distinguished guests and participants ; ladies and gentlemen ; it is my pleasure to officially open this knowledge exchange programme on mobile and agency banking in kenya. on behalf of the kenya school of monetary studies ( ksms ), which is co - hosting this programme, let me extend a warm welcome to you all to kenya and in particular to ksms, a leading regional training institution in financial matters. i sincerely hope that you will enjoy kenya ’ s hospitality and tourist attractions during your stay in kenya. ladies and gentlemen : at the outset i would like to commend afraca for its continued efforts towards enhanced agricultural and rural financing environment. forums like this allow afraca members not only to learn from each other ’ s experiences but also to challenge each other on possible policy solutions to increase agricultural and rural financing. as you may be aware, financial inclusion has lately assumed a central place in financial regulators mandates and is a public policy. the more formally financially included an economy is, the greater the likelihood of attaining financial developments and financial stability. in this regard, afraca ’ s vision of achieving a rural africa where people have access to sustainable financial services for economic development is very relevant to the financial inclusion objectives of afraca ’ s members. ladies and gentlemen : afraca ’ s decision to host you for this knowledge exchange on mobile and agency banking in kenya is a well thought out decision. this is because over the last 6 years millions of people, most of whom were financially excluded, have been brought into the formal financial sector through successful rollout of innovative mobile phone financial services products ( mfs ). kenya has witnessed increased competition and diversity in the mobile phone financial services space with more mobile phone operators launching mobile money products. financial institutions have also increasingly partnered and integrated their operating platforms with those of mobile phone financial services platform to leverage on the convenience and efficiencies they present. as a result, the

directors sponsor individual female and bame staff to support their progression into senior management – something i have personally found particularly rewarding. as we strengthen diversity internally, we are also doing more to improve the diversity – in its broadest sense – of our external engagement with market participants. a key part of my team ’ s role is to act as the bank ’ s ‘ eyes and ears ’ in the financial markets : gathering the best possible intelligence on market developments to support the decisions of our monetary and financial policy committees. as those markets evolve, so too we must adapt and change those we engage with to keep our finger on the pulse. different and broader types of firm, using different technology. different people within firms, as those who matter for decision making change. and a different and more open style to that engagement, more open to challenge and different perspectives on what makes markets tick. just as embracing diversity is no longer a choice for success in your business, so it is no longer a choice for us in ours. unless we ensure we are speaking to a broad, diverse set of market participants who are truly reflective of the diversity in the market, and feeding that input into our policy decisions, we will not be doing our job. https : / / www. bankofengland. co. uk / speech / 2019 / mark - carney - women - in - banking - and - finance - 22nd - annual - awards all speeches are available online at www. bankofengland. co. uk / publications / pages / speeches / default. aspx to deliver on that goal, we are working with a wide range of financial market stakeholders and external networking organisations. ensuring diversity of market segments and individuals is explicitly considered when identifying members for roles on our external - facing committees, including the london foreign exchange joint standing committee. further expanding our intelligence network to embrace all the benefits diversity can bring to our understanding of financial market developments. and engaging more actively at events like this, where diversity is an explicit theme or topic of discussion. but i would say this : finding new and insightful contacts across the market is not always easy. so we need your help as we ramp these efforts up over the coming year : to identify people earlier in their careers, and the new generation of up - and - coming leaders of tomorrow, and bring them to our attention so we can ensure their views help support our policymaking for the whole of the country. conclusion the foreign exchange market is one of the biggest, most