card. as their use becomes more widespread, this solution will not be viable in the long term. it will be too expensive. another challenge is that users have to download a large number of apps to make sure that they can send and receive mobile payments. this is not very practical for users. communication between apps, so - called interoperability, is key. moreover, a solution with many different terminals at the cashier counter is not practical for customers or shops. also for mobile payments, it is clear that standardisation and common solutions is the only viable path. our aim is for mobile payments to be cheap and fast, and that apps can communicate and use the same shop payment terminal. the question is how to achieve that. it is important for mobile payments to use the same underlying solutions, such as the industry ’ s own instant payment solution or an enhanced bankaxept system. this will provide cheap and accessible solutions for customers, regardless where they hold an account, and entails economies of scale. in some cases, this will also result in faster payments. norges bank will seek to initiate a dialogue with the industry on this matter. i have also noted that there are many operators that are now working to develop common terminal solutions for mobile payments. time will show what the concrete solution will be. for the system to work efficiently, users must have good information about the services. optimally, the prices charged to users should reflect costs. bis central bankers ’ speeches a more decentralised financial infrastructure? today ’ s financial infrastructure is largely centralised. transactions pass through one or several intermediaries before final approval and settlement in a central bank or a central securities depository. at the core of a centralised payment system is the account system in the central bank. each bank holds an account with the central bank and settlement between banks is effected by moving funds between these accounts. at the level below the central bank, the payment system consists of several layers of accounts. banks that hold an account with the central bank have their own account system for customers. a payment between customers in different banks therefore passes through many stages, and they are verified at each stage. similar centralised solutions also exist for the settlement of foreign exchange and securities transactions. society could possibly benefit greatly from replacing the existing infrastructure with more decentralised solutions, for instance based on so - called blockchain technology. such solutions were first used when the digital currency bitcoin came onto the market in 2009. such

francois groepe : the role of business in the national development plan ( ndp ), to deal with the threefold challenge of unemployment, poverty and inequality by 2030 address by mr francois groepe, deputy governor of the south african reserve bank, at the afrikaanse handelsinstituut ( ahi ) national congress, kruger national park, 19 october 2012. * 1. * * introduction chairperson, ladies and gentlemen, i can truly say that i am pleased to be part of the proceedings of the day, hosted at this beautiful venue. in addressing my topic, namely “ the role of business in addressing the threefold challenges that unemployment, poverty and inequality pose to our society ”, particularly highlighting the role that small and medium sized enterprises can play in addressing these issues, it is necessary for us to first reflect on the current state of affairs. 2. inequality in south africa most recently, the world bank in its assessment of south africa, said that for south africa to create jobs and reduce unemployment, it needs to tackle economic inequality. it goes on to say that south africa can be considered as one of the most unequal countries in the world with the most recent estimate of the gini coefficient being 0, 69. the so - called gini coefficient is an internationally accepted measure that indicates the degree of income inequality in a country. the higher the coefficient, the more unequal the income distribution is. despite the fact that this gini coefficient is disputable given that the government social grants system was not taken into account when this measure was calculated, i am sure that none of us will dispute the fact that inequality and poverty is rife in our country. in south africa, it is estimated that the top ten per cent of the population earn as much as 58 per cent of the income, the bottom ten per cent as little as 0, 5 per cent, and the bottom 50 per cent less than eight per cent. inequality is a reality and simply forms part of any deliberations when it comes to steering a new course of development in this country. at the heart of high inequality lies the inability to create employment opportunities on a large enough scale. south africa ’ s unemployment rate of 24, 9 1 per cent1 in the second quarter of this year, is amongst the highest in the world. admittedly, we are no longer an outlier when compared with countries such as greece and spain, but that of course does not make it any more acceptable, recognis