r42 billion in low - income housing finance by 2008. the bank continued to make a significant contribution to economic co - operation in africa by for expample liaising closely with the association of african central banks regarding the implementation of the african monetary cooperation programme and participating in an ongoing study outlining the costs and benefits of the creation of a common central bank for lesotho, namibia, swaziland and south africa ( the decisions in this regard will be taken by the political leaders of these countries ). in february 2005 the bank hosted a seminar with the european central bank ( ecb ), attended by southern african development community ( sadc ) central banks in which views on the road towards a single central bank for sadc were discussed against the background of the ecb experience. the mou on the harmonisation of legal and operational frameworks of sadc central banks was finally approved by ministers for finance at their meeting held on 5 august 2005 after extensive consultations. at their september 2005 meeting, the committee of central bank governors ( ccbg ) in sadc signed memoranda of understating ( mous ) on exchange control, information and communications technology and payment, clearing and settlement systems. in may 2005, the bank was privileged to host the first financial stability forum ( fsf ) african regional meeting. participants included ministers of finance, governors of central banks and senior officials from finance ministries, central banks and regulatory authorities from various countries in africa as well as members of the fsf. in june 2005 the bank participated in workshops on a sadc cross - border settlement model. the bank, in conjunction with other central banks in the sadc region, is investigating options to facilitate the settlement of cross - border payments within the region. the bank contributed significantly to the development and deployment of the bank supervision application solution, a computerised system which was developed on behalf of sadc and some east african countries. this application was deployed in all eleven participating countries and is utilised to supervise commercial banks and other financial institutions. international involvement obviously extends beyond africa and the bank continued participating and collaborating in the activities of a number of international organisations, central banks and universities. for example, a highly successful g - 20 seminar on economic growth, co - hosted by the bank along with the people ’ s bank of china and the banco de mexico, was held in pretoria in august 2005, and the findings were discussed at the meeting of deputy finance ministers and deputy central bank governors in china in september and ultimately

, foreign financial institutions set up large numbers of subsidiaries, branches or representative offices in south africa. at first the domestic financial institutions felt the impact of increased competition, but they now seem to have adapted well to the changed circumstances and have introduced various measures to improve their efficiency. the depth, breadth and stature of south africa ’ s financial markets has been increased by a number of important developments in recent years. the development of a eurorand bond market, the introduction of primary dealers in bond auctions and the successful launching of a domestic medium - term note programme deepened the south african bond market. financial instruments have also been diversified and aligned more closely with developments in international capital markets. the johannesburg stock exchange has been restructured to provide for electronic screen trading, corporate and non - resident participation, negotiated commissions and dual capacity trading by brokers. the stock exchange has also successfully forged links with other exchanges in southern africa, and now shares with the namibian stock exchange a system for trading, clearing and settlement. electronic clearing and settlement, the phased dematerialisation of shares and their registration in a central securities depository, are currently being introduced. the objective is to reduce settlement risk through delivery against payments linked to the national payment, clearing and settlement system. it is important to realise that institutions that have greater international distribution and delivery capacity can compete better on a global basis. while merger and acquisition activity continues to grow rapidly in the world, the south african market has been relatively quiet in this regard since the market crash of september 1998. although the past years have seen high - profile listings on the london stock exchange of south african breweries, old mutual, anglo american and didata, there have been relatively few new listings or rights issues on the johannesburg stock exchange. moderate growth in share prices has tended to slow merger and acquisition activity, but cross - border acquisitions by south african companies have entrenched south africa as part of the global economy and highlighted the need to be globally competitive. the world of competitive global finance clearly favours players with a global scale and reach. this means that financial institutions must have research facilities to keep them up to date with international developments, they must have access to global markets and they must have products that can be marketed internationally. for many south african institutions, this implies a complete change in culture and in the behaviour of their staff, and probably also a realignment of their organisational structures. financial institutions in a global environment will, in particular, rely heavily on information to target potential clients