harvesh seegolam : opening of the informative session on the maucas and the sadc and comesa cross - border payment systems speech by mr harvesh seegolam, governor of the bank of mauritius, at the opening of the informative session on the maucas and the sadc and comesa cross - border payment systems, port louis, 16 december 2020. * * * first deputy governor second deputy governor members of the board of directors of the bank of mauritius the president of the mauritius chamber of commerce and industry the secretary general of the mauritius chamber of commerce and industry the chief executive of the mauritius bankers association the president of the comesa business council members of the business community representatives of the media ladies and gentlemen i am pleased to be with you this morning for this informative session on the maucas and the sadc and comesa cross - border payment systems. this session is organised by the bank in close collaboration with the mcci. ladies and gentlemen, central banks have traditionally been associated with monetary policy, regulation and supervision of banks and financial stability. however, over the past two decades, central banks have been at the forefront of providing safe, secure and efficient payment systems. this function has gained importance on account of the growing recognition of payment systems and the fact that secure, stable and well - functioning payment systems are critical for maintaining financial stability, enabling effective monetary policy implementation as well as promoting economic development. in this respect, the bank of mauritius has played – and continues to play – an important role in the development of the payment ecosystem in mauritius. the bank has invested in a sustained manner in the improvement of payment systems infrastructure for more efficiency and faster payment cycles. globally, payment systems have witnessed high levels of innovation and modernization. central banks have equally evolved and come a long way in how they have supported the development of an enabling ecosystem. likewise, the bank of mauritius has constantly progressed from interbank payments effected by telex transfers in the nineties to the implementation of an innovative and technology - enabled digital platform allowing for payments around the clock. in the year 2000, the bank implemented a real - time gross settlement system, the mauritius automated clearing and settlement system. the macss, as it is commonly known, has been the cornerstone of a new payment processing infrastructure. the macss is the centrepiece of all interbank fund transfers in the country. while providing a means for real - time interbank payments, the macss is also

to equip old and young alike with these skills. developing cognitive skills in the young was a brilliant model for the past 300 years, but not one for our educational future. many different models are possible. elsewhere, i have called one possibility multiversities, as distinct from universities. 44 the multi serves double - duty. it connotes the need for these new institutions to expand their disciplinary horizons and become less subject - singular. history shows that creativity breakthroughs are often sourced in straddling disciplinary boundaries, in being subject - plural. creating the right environment for creativity often means breaking free from disciplinary silos. indeed, if we are to embed a cross - disciplinary culture, we may need to rethink how we classify subjects. traditional domain - knowledge may make less sense in a creative rather than knowledge - based economy. a new classification system might recognise subjects like creativity and digital literacy, emotional intelligence and empathy, entrepreneurship and design. these would, by design, straddle disciplinary boundaries. the multi also signifies the need to straddle generational, as well as disciplinary, divides. education will need in future to cater for old and young alike, making lifelong learning a reality. rather than the sequential model, with first education and then work, we would instead have a rotation model over a career. universities currently tend to be a one - way street into work. multiversities would operate like career roundabouts with turnoffs into both work and study. this would be a fundamental shift, culturally and educationally. even if we pushed our peak age of creativity into early adulthood, that still leaves a long creative downslope during which our capacity to teach ever - older dogs ever - newer tricks would become ever - more difficult. lifelong learning and re - skilling of adults has been difficult to make a reality for a reason. the right infrastructure will be needed to support this shift and to create the incentives to sustain it through our 100 - year lives. for understandable reasons, there has been an upsurge in interest in this issue recently, including in the uk. philip augar is leading a government review of post - 18 education which is due to report this year. 45 both of the main opposition parties have also initiated reviews. the centenary commission on adult education ( of which i am a patron ) began work just last month to assess the future needs of the educational system. 46 there are already models which may offer some clues on a future direction of travel. the