. in the debate that follows we can perhaps delve into what, so far, the ssm has meant for our work as supervisors and for the functioning of the european banking sector. but, as the title of this address states, i seek to go beyond the ssm and talk about the european banking project. specifically, i should like to reflect with you on the causes behind the launch of this project and what it has meant to date. i wish to frame it in terms of the safeguarding of the euro, 2 / 10 but i also aim to cover those elements which, in my view, are lacking when it comes to attaining a truly european and cross - border integrated banking sector. i shall also refer to an even broader objective : namely, achieving a real “ financial union ”. the banking union would be part of this, but it would encompass other elements, such as the so - called “ capital markets union ”. european construction i think it is fair to point out that, since its creation, the eu project has improved the life of millions of european citizens. it has done so not only in economic terms, but also as regards rights and standards of living throughout the union. naturally, the success of this common project cannot be judged solely in terms of its economic results ; we must also consider its other initial goals. these include increasing the level of political integration and promoting peace, european values and the well - being of european peoples. we should not forget that the european union was conceived with the aim of ending armed conflict between neighbouring countries, following the horror of two world wars. the creation in the 1950s of the european coal and steel community was the first step towards an economic and political union of the european countries, with the ultimate goal of ensuring lasting peace. the award of the nobel peace prize to the european union in 2012 for having “ over six decades contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in europe ” attested to the success in achieving this original goal. i believe that the goals of ensuring peace and promoting integration and economic development are in fact related. as the world trade organization rightly reminded us, the trade war unleashed during the great depression contributed to the outbreak of the second world war. in this respect, one very positive consequence of trade between nations is that it contributes to transforming “ rival ” nations into partners, who share interests instead of having conflicting interests. undoubtedly, since the foundation of the european coal and steel community in 1952, economic and political integration

catch up with the relatively good performance of other eac partner states? for instance in the 2015 / 2016 global competitiveness report of the world economic forum1, uganda ranked third in the eac region behind kenya and rwanda in as far as “ financing http : / / reports. weforum. org / global - competitiveness - report - 2015 – 2016 / competitivenessrankings / # indicatorid = gci. b. 08. bis central bankers ’ speeches through the local equity market ” was concerned. in other words, uganda lags behind two of our eac partners in using the capital markets to raise funds to finance our businesses. similarly, it is also worth asking, how we can use financial literacy to increase the participation of ugandans both at individual and sme institutional level in the existing financial instruments like treasury bills and bonds. the statistics show that the “ others category ” in which smes and individuals are classified contributed only 9. 9 percent2 of investments in uganda government securities at face value as at june 2015. this is in contrast to a share of 44. 5 percent, 34. 3 percent, and 11. 3 percent of commercial banks, pension & provident funds, and offshore players, respectively. these statistics underscore the need to enhance the financial literacy messaging so as to encourage people to utilise the financial investment opportunities available to them and make the most optimal decisions using the available information. fourth, many ugandans have embraced the mobile money revolution, with the number of mobile money registered users rising from 17. 9 million in september 2014 to 19. 8 million in september 2015, while bank accounts have remained relatively stable at 5 million. our challenge therefore regards the use of financial literacy messages and the design of appropriate products and services by the financial institutions to support the transformation of these mobile money accounts into accounts within the formal banking industry. responding to the above challenges requires, in part, the dissemination of consistent and quality - assured messages, encompassing both financial and economic education. our flagship program, the training of trainers ( tot ) remains the major way through which individuals who would like to train the population in financial literacy are prepared and certified. over the years, we have trained a critical mass of people who can extend financial consumer education to a sizeable proportion of the ugandan population, using the curriculum that was agreed upon and can still be accessed from the “ simplify money magnify life ” website and the trainers manual. going forward, we may need