that financial institutions are required to implement to address threats to the financial system including illicit financial flows. recent assessments of several african countries anti - money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism ( aml / cft ) regimes conducted by the eastern and southern africa anti - money laundering group ( esaamlg ), a fatf regional body, revealed that most countries generally exhibit a low level of compliance with preventive measures. 4 the implementation of the customer due diligence, in particular the identification and verification of beneficial owners of corporate entities remains a significant challenge. closer international cooperation is also needed. the lack of institutional, technical and human capacity also hampers financial sector regulators ’ ability to curtail the movement of illicit financial outflows from financial institutions in africa. the necessary infrastructure that would support regulators efforts to combat illicit financial flows such as financial intelligence units ( fius ), beneficial ownership registries or asset recovery units are either non - existent or in the early stages of development. as a result, the requisite skills required for tracking illicit financial flows, including the ability to profile money laundering risks and analyse suspicious transactions, are severely lacking and in short supply within the continent. new technologies can help but could also facilitate illicit financial flows. i cannot overemphasise the need for african countries to develop mechanisms that will facilitate transparency. adoption of mechanisms such as the kimberley process for diamonds or the extractive industries transparency initiative ( eiti ) would help. in addition, lifting the veil of secrecy and determining who ultimately owns and controls corporate entities that have established business relationships with financial institutions exposes wrong doing and disrupts a key vehicle for illicit financial flows. in this regard, i would therefore urge the continent ’ s legislatures to consider implementing changes to our national laws that would massa i. ( 2014 ) ‘ capital flight and the financial system ’ overseas development institute ( odi ) working paper 413 available at : https : / / www. odi. org / sites / odi. org. uk / files / odi - assets / publications - opinion - files / 9392. pdf. bis central bankers ’ speeches enhance our national registries, particularly as relates to the obtaining and sharing of beneficial ownership information. i would be remiss if i did not mention the kenyan experience and initiatives that the central bank of kenya ( cbk ) has adopted in order to foster transparency within the kenyan financial system. in the past year, cbk has adopted the following measures : • stepped up

world. it is the largest economy in eastern europe, the balkans and the middle east, second in the black sea basin and sixth among emerging market economies. unlike most of the new member states at the start of negotiations, turkey already has a functioning market economy, which is far advanced in meeting the economic chapters of the acquis communautaire. this is because of the start of the development of the market economy goes back to 1950, relationship with the eu back to 1963 and the completion of the customs union back to 1995. indeed, turkey is the only country that completed customs union without being a member. in a sense, turkey is more integrated to the european markets than many new members and other candidates. when you look at the current account, turkey has the second largest share after poland in total trade volume towards the eu - 15. and as of august 2005, the share of the eu - 25 in turkey ’ s total exports and imports are 52. 5 percent and 42. 4 percent respectively. furthermore, 52 percent of the total number of tourists visiting turkey so far in 2005 are eu citizens. viewing turkey ’ s capital account, it is noticeable that in the last two years, 85 percent of total foreign direct investment inflows to turkey came from the eu. that figure was 71 percent on average in the last fifteen years. in consequence, the turkish membership to the eu will nourish this close economic relationship further. turkey ’ s membership will not only create a market for the eu in favour of both consumers and firms, but also help the eu to become closer geographically to the middle east, russia, black sea and central asia markets and so increase its competitiveness. as you all know, turkey is an important regional power at the crossroads of important energy, transportation and communication networks. it can also be said that turkey is the only country in the region with the necessary institutional structure and capacity for integrating the region to the world economy through business association networks and partnerships. 6 in addition to this, in terms of the eu ’ s long - term energy policy including petrol, natural gas and water sources, the increasing importance of the middle east and caspian region has made turkey a bridge to the energy sources in the region. with this strategic location, it is in the geo - strategic interest of the eu to have turkey as a member with regard to the foreign and security policies dimensions. and, i believe that the turkish accession will be a strategic opportunity for europe. distinguished guests, despite