njuguna ndung ’ u : financal services sector – steering the economy to the next level remarks by prof njuguna ndung ’ u, governor of the central bank of kenya, during the 4th institute of certified public accountants of kenya ( icpak ) financial services conference “ financal services sector – steering the economy to the next level ”, nairobi, 4 july 2012. * * * mr. patrick mtange, chairman, institute of certified public accountants of kenya ; ms. caroline kigen, chief executive officer, icpak ; distinguished guests ; ladies and gentlemen : it gives me great pleasure to be here today to open this 4th financial services conference. let me at the outset thank the institute of certified public accountants of kenya for organizing this forum and particularly for the choice of the theme “ financial services sector : steering the economy to the next level ”. at the central bank we work on the subject at the policy level with patriotic interest. ladies and gentlemen : for our country to develop and realize the aspirations of vision 2030, the financial services sector must take the lead in steering the economy “ to the next level ”. towards this goal, it is critical to keep in focus the vision for the financial sector as contained in the vision 2030 blueprint that is, to create a vibrant and globally competitive financial sector. ladies and gentlemen : in pursuit of this vision, the central bank in collaboration with the government and market players continues to play a pro - active role in initiating the necessary reforms geared towards creating an enabling environment. significant progress has been made on these initiatives but at the outset, we need to recognize that it is financial inclusion that will provide the gateway. the progress made so far shows that financial inclusion is a major public policy instrument. several successes can be listed on this front : i. licensing of deposit taking microfinance institutions ( dtms ) since 2008 when the dtms regulatory framework became effective, 6 dtms have been licensed and two granted approval in principle. as at the end of may 2012, the 6 licensed dtms had 63 branches and 1. 56 million deposit accounts with deposits worth over ksh. 11. 6 billion. they also had 495, 840 loan accounts with an outstanding loan portfolio of over ksh. 17. 7 billion. this is significant progress given that banks in total only have 2. 1 million loan accounts. the dtms provide an avenue of reaching out to the lower levels of the population given that our markets

susan schmidt bies : developments in financial markets and financial management remarks by ms susan schmidt bies, member of the board of governors of the us federal reserve system, at the bond market association ’ s regional bond traders and sales managers roundtable, irving, texas, 30 september 2004. * * * i am very pleased to join you for this meeting of the bond market association. tonight, i would like to talk about my views on the economy, and then draw to your attention some emerging regulatory issues that affect your businesses. first, i would like to briefly share with you my assessment of the economic outlook and discuss in more detail how households and businesses appear poised for an expected rise in interest rates. second, i want to discuss some issues related to the accounting and auditing of securities. i also need to add that in terms of the economic outlook, i am expressing my own opinions, which are not necessarily those of my colleagues on the board of governors or on the federal open market committee. the economic outlook as you know, real gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 3. 3 percent in the second quarter, building on larger increases since the middle of 2003. after having moderated a bit in late spring, partly in response to a substantial rise in energy prices, output growth appears to have regained some traction. both consumer spending and housing starts jumped in july and held steady in august. business outlays for capital equipment also appear to be on an upward trend, continuing to rebound from their weakness of the past several years. and with financial conditions still accommodative, i expect that economic activity will continue to expand at a solid pace for the remainder of the year. at the same time, it appears that inflation and inflation expectations have eased. the core consumer price index, which excludes food and energy, edged up only 0. 1 percent in each of the past three months through august. this pace is substantially below the pace of earlier this year, when inflation was likely boosted by some transitory factors, such as the pass - through of large increases in energy and import prices, and some payback from the unusually modest increases in 2003. i expect underlying inflation to remain low, and, in my view, under these circumstances the federal reserve can remove its policy accommodation at a measured pace, consistent with its commitment to maintain price stability as a necessary condition for maximum sustainable economic growth. household financial conditions continued vigorous expansion depends importantly on consumer spending, so let me spend a few