gazi ercel : risk management - within reserve management policies opening remarks by mr gazi ercel, governor of the central bank of turkey, in the conference titled “ current issues in reserves management for central banks in europe, middle east and north africa ” which has been organized by the world bank treasury in istanbul on 4 - 5 may 2000. * * * i am delighted to be with you today to offer some general remarks about reserve management, and our approach to risk management, at the central bank of turkey. before starting my speech, i would like to thank the world bank for organizing this conference which, i believe, will be most beneficial to all of us. i am sure most of the important subjects related to new developments in reserve management will be covered in detail at this meeting. however, let me briefly comment on recent developments in managing risk within reserve management and share our experience at the central bank of turkey with you. a string of disaster stories dominated the financial news coverage during the last two decades. a variety of factors could be cited as possible causes of these events. they include shortcomings in economic policy, inadequate supervision and, in most cases, poor risk management by the market players themselves. beyond that, the basic issue is the financial system ’ s vulnerability to unforeseen events. we all learned much from these bad experiences but we are living in a changing world. these changes can be good or bad for those affected by them. change therefore leads to risk, the prospect of gain or loss and the risk of loss is something that we must all be aware of. to be aware of risks does not mean eliminating them from our lives, which is certainly impossible, nor does it mean that we should do nothing about risks and accept consequences fatalistically. it means : we must manage risk. to manage risks we must decide what risks to avoid and how we can avoid them ; what risks to accept and on what terms to accept them ; what new risks to take on and so on. both theory and practice of risk management have developed enormously in the last two and a half decades. the theory has developed to the point where the risk management is now regarded as a distinct sub - field of the theory of finance and risk management has become a separate subject in the master ’ s and mba programs. the subject has attracted a huge amount of intellectual energy not just from finance specialists but also from specialists in physics. the most important factor contributed to this transformation of risk management was,

njuguna ndung ’ u : currency centres in kenya remarks by prof njuguna ndung ’ u, governor of the central bank of kenya, at the launch of currency centres in kenya and the official opening of meru currency centre, cooperative bank, meru branch, 19 august 2011. * * * the deputy prime minister and minister of finance, hon. uhuru kenyatta ; the provincial commissioner, eastern province, ms. claire omollo ; the mp for north imenti, hon. silas ruteere ; his worship the mayor of meru, councillor mr. mwalimu john ; the district commissioner, imenti north, mr. david cherop ; the chief executive officer, co - operative bank kenya limited, mr. gideon muriuki ; the chief executive, kenya bankers association, mr. habil olaka ; commercial bank chief executives and their branch managers here present ; distinguished guests ; ladies and gentlemen : i am greatly pleased and appreciative once again to witness another milestone achievement of the collaborative effort between the central bank of kenya and the kenya bankers association, that is, the launching of currency centres concept in kenya and the official opening of meru currency centre by the deputy prime minister and minister for finance. honourable deputy prime minister and minister for finance, the banking sector has undergone major transformation in the last five years in light of changing consumer needs. the most notable changes have been the rapid expansion of branch networks, increase in client accounts and in the number of automated teller machines ( atms ) across the country, use of agents and mobile phone infrastructure by banks to provide financial services and increased outsourcing of cash processing and movement services. these developments have significantly impacted on currency circulation patterns in the country making it inevitable for the central bank and commercial banks to review how these operations can be conducted cost effectively. honourable deputy prime minister, the central bank of kenya in conjunction with the kenya bankers association embarked on establishing currency centres two years ago. this was done as a way of supporting commercial banks to efficiently provide financial services in various regions of the country and reduce the distance over which cash is moved between one central bank office and the upcountry branches of commercial banks. the main objective is to reduce cost of doing business. honourable minister, the first currency centre under this initiative was established in december 2009 in nyeri followed by nakuru currency centre in december 2010 and meru in february 2011. the three currency centres currently serve a total of