used to. we need to change and adapt. we need to find new avenues, to innovate. while the financial intermediation sector grows on average by 5 per cent annually, we seem to have stagnated in terms of new products. the global competitiveness report 2012 – 13 ranks mauritius 47th in terms of “ availability of financial services ”. we lag well behind in terms of “ capacity to innovate ”, be it in our global rank or regional rank. such metrics confirm that we need to broaden the spectrum of our financial services. i hope that this seminar will address many of the queries that we have on the fatca and its compliance. i once again commend the organisers for providing the relevant stakeholders with a platform where views can be exchanged and i hope that more ideas emerge on how we can give a positive spin to the fatca. one final advice, if i may : turn challenges into opportunities! think differently! thank you for your kind attention. bis central bankers ’ speeches

ian plenderleith : five big issues in the economic field speech by mr ian plenderleith, deputy governor of the south african reserve bank, to the actsa ( action for southern africa ) corporate and professional dinner, johannesburg, 2 june 2005. * * * visitors to south africa are encouraged to go on safari and see “ the big five ”. the big five are, indeed, awesome in the wild and a memorable sight. but i have always regarded the notion that visitors can see just the big five, and then go home feeling they have covered the ground, as distinctly sub - optimal marketing. any score card that leaves out, for example, the mute grace of the giraffe, or the sheer brute force of the hippopotamus, or - my personal favourite - the nimble elegance of the warthog, does not begin to do justice to the diversity of wildlife in south africa ; and if we also add a few of the rarer sights, like perhaps wild dogs and cheetah, we would encourage visitors to stay longer and add yet more to our tourist earnings. the big five are not, however, only to be found in the bush. in the economic field, too, we have for the past decade been determinedly and assiduously tracking a different sort of big five, representing the key elements we need to nurture to enable our economy to achieve higher and rising levels of sustainable growth in output and in employment and hence in living standards for all the people of south africa. i want tonight briefly to point out these economic big five to you and to suggest that, after years of carefully stalking the spoor, we are now on track and in sight of the big five and well placed to enjoy the continuing benefit of their company. what are these big five, in the economic field? first, the economy as a whole continues to demonstrate vigorous and sustained growth. we have in fact achieved continuous positive growth in output for the past 26 consecutive quarters - some six and half years. that is a remarkable track record of cumulative growth. more recently, we have seen growth accelerate, from 3 percent or just over in the past few years to 3. 7 percent last year and continuing to run close to that level on the first quarter gdp data released just this week. the economy appears to have moved up in the past two years onto a higher growth trajectory which, if it can be sustained, is extremely good news. secondly, there are good