. g. capital buffers, tier 1 capital, and capital adequacy ratios. however, there are other requirements which we still have to meet. among those is the whole issue of domestic systemically important banks, the so - called dsibs. we have at least two banks in our jurisdiction that would qualify as dsibs. these dsibs require a different regime. in other jurisdictions, systemically important institutions ( sifis ) are required to actually come forward with a living will. they are deemed to be too big to fail but they are also too big to bail. why are they too big to bail? because the cost of bailing them out is well beyond the resources either of the central bank as a regulator and lender of last resort, or well beyond the resources of the country that holds these institutions in terms of ratio to gdp of the banking sector assets. we fall in that category. therefore we need to be very careful not to end up with a banking sector bust up like ireland or like iceland, which would have tremendous implications for the public sector budget. the bank is currently working on a framework for the monitoring of such institutions which may be required to maintain additional capital. so, i am delighted to be proceeding this morning with the first disbursement under the special line of credit in foreign currency to an economic operator in the tourism sector, mr shakeel nundlall, who is here with us today and who, i am sure, will open the way for other economic operators to go and convert their stock of debt into foreign currency. i thank you for your attention. bis central bankers ’ speeches

rundheersing bheenick : special line of credit in foreign currency remarks by mr rundheersing bheenick, governor of the bank of mauritius, at the signature ceremony of the agreement between the bank of mauritius and the mauritius post and cooperative bank in respect of the first disbursement under the special line of credit in foreign currency, port - louis, 10 august 2012. * * * a very good morning to all of you. i am pleased to welcome you this morning to our headquarters for a special event : the signing of an agreement between the bank of mauritius and the mauritius post and cooperative bank ltd ( mpcb ) in respect of the first disbursement under the special line of credit in foreign currency. it is especially heart - warming to note that the management of mpcb, its board and its executive management are once again making a difference. they are the first one to get out of the starting stalls and come up to sign a framework agreement in the form of a memorandum of understanding which we will be entering into this morning. you will recall that mpcb was also the first bank to deal with us when we offered a special line of credit to the sugar sector when it was going through a tough time. while other banks were being reticent, mpcb was the first one to come forward, and we agreed to go ahead. obviously other banks joined afterwards on the same terms and conditions. mpcb therefore deserves our congratulations for their readiness to join the central bank in its endeavours to reach out to sectors in need. a lot has been said about this foreign currency line of credit. why are we offering it? why were the terms what they were? and why have we taken two months? yes, two whole months. it has, in fact, been two - month period of laborious gestation! we actually announced it on saturday night of the 9th of june and you would have thought that people would have come queuing to the door of the central bank on the following monday morning itself. but no! we had many carpic critics. some were thinking that perhaps there were some ulterior motives behind it ; others that perhaps the bank was trying to deflect attention away from the real issue. such reactions and misconceptions require that we give you some background and explain to you the rationale that lies behind the two measures, the operation reserves reconstitution ( orr ) and the special line of credit in foreign currency