that can attract long term private investment. the bou has also taken the lead in championing financial inclusion which entails spreading access to financial services to those who currently are not served by financial institutions. finance trust bank is expected to make a very important contribution to the promotion of financial inclusion given the nature of its customer base. i would also like to mention that, through the uganda bankers association, the commercial banks have put in place financial literacy campaigns aimed at educating the public about financial services. these campaigns augment the bou ’ s financial inclusion efforts. bis central bankers ’ speeches on the regulatory front, your excellency assented to the anti - money laundering act last year. this legislation is essential to our efforts to combat money laundering, the effects of which on our economy and society are pernicious. in addition, legislation is in the pipeline to provide a regulatory framework for islamic financial services and banc assurance. the east african payments system went live last year and this enables financial institutions to speed up settlement of cross border transactions and to support the growth of trade in the east african community. with these remarks allow me to once again extend my heartfelt congratulations to finance trust bank for the successful transition to a commercial bank. thank you very much for listening to me. bis central bankers ’ speeches

while 3 % and 2 % were borrowing from mdis and saccos respectively. financial inclusion is a central theme for all of us because most of those in poverty do not have access to financial services as already mentioned. poverty alleviation is a top priority for the uganda government and financial inclusion is an essential component of the country ’ s poverty alleviation strategy. it is our hope that greater financial inclusion will ultimately reduce poverty and inequality. this conference is, therefore, timely for amfiu to regroup and discuss a contemporary issue of financial inclusion. i, therefore, thank the management of amfiu for facilitating this conference. ladies and gentlemen, allow me to delve deeper into the pertinent issues which must be taken into account by all financial service providers in order to foster financial inclusion. bis central bankers ’ speeches assuring savers of the safety of their member - savings. – the lack of such assurance can be a great source of suffering to savers whenever there is collapse of any service provider. this is mostly pronounced among the many semi - formal and informal service providers like saccos and community groups. prudential regulation and other safety nets for service providers should always be in place to reduce on this risk. in that way, the country will be able to attract more savers into formal institutions. reducing lending risk and risk perceptions inherent in lending to key productive sectors particularly agriculture and smes. – while agriculture forms the backbone of the ugandan economy and provides employment to the majority of ugandans, there is little evidence that credit is churned into this sector in adequate proportions. exclusion of agriculture in lending is indeed exclusion of many people especially in uganda. it is therefore crucial that service providers should design financial products suited for the agricultural sector, i. e. reasonable priced credit facilities and agriculture insurance. innovation allows financial products and services to be customised to those who need it and it is crucial for creating a diversity of solutions to financial inclusion. the bank of uganda is currently implementing an agricultural credit facility set up by the government of uganda in partnership with commercial banks ; uganda development bank ltd, micro deposit taking institutions and credit institutions. the facility is for the purpose of providing medium / long term loans to agricultural loans to agricultural sector. however, no single mdi has participated in the scheme as the bulk of their clientele are small scale farmers requiring loans of a short term nature. expanding outreach – the cost of locating a financial institution branch in a rural set up where the road