independence banking in india. the first was the enactment of the banking regulation act, 1949 which brought in a comprehensive and formal structure of bank regulation and supervision in india. the nationalization of banks in our country marked the second such point. it generated forces that took banking from an elite class to the masses. it led to the establishment of a very substantial infrastructure across the geographical expanse of the sub - continent and was thus a critical trigger for financial outreach of institutions and empowerment of the common man. the third inflexion point in banking was the financial sector reforms initiative that was launched in the early 1990s. these reforms heralded a dramatic shift in the way banks functioned and operated in india. the changed environment and the internal compulsions arising from greater competition and the need to improve their market share / profitability gave rise to the quest for greater efficiency and the need to reposition themselves given the realities of the environment and their internal strengths and weaknesses. this period also coincided with the onset of the knowledge revolution that launched a gigantic third wave - as famously described by alvin toffler - of economic, technical and social change and is still forcing businesses to operate in radically new, continually shifting ways. every shred of industrial - era thinking is in fact now being re - scrutinised and re - formulated. it is precisely when an old paradigm crumbles and the new one is not yet fixed in place that we get great bursts of creative thinking. this is perhaps such a moment. what does the future hold? one thing is certain ; - the future will clearly not be a continuation of the past. it will rather be a series of discontinuities. the exciting thing about discontinuity is that it breeds opportunity. we live in an age of unprecedented opportunity. but with opportunity comes responsibility. it is for tomorrow ’ s managers to carve out their own place, to know when to change course and keep themselves engaged and productive throughout. to do things well, one needs to cultivate a deep understanding of oneself - not only the strengths and weaknesses but also how one learns, how one works with others, what his or her values are and where he or she can make the greatest contribution. because only when one operates from strengths can true excellence is achieved. these challenges call for a new, more dynamic, aggressive and challenging work culture to meet the demands of customer relationships, product differentiation, brand values, reputation, corporate governance and regulatory prescriptions. understanding and dealing with difficult transitions

cooperation. i wish to return to the subject of corporate governance which i am sure will be of great relevance to the audience. we have in august issued a revised guideline on corporate governance with a view to bringing improvements in the corporate governance framework of our financial institutions. the guideline has been aligned to the new recommendations of the basel committee on banking supervision and greater emphasis is now being laid on the independence of directors. we are requiring, amongst others, that the chairperson of a board in a local bank be an independent director. we have further requested the setting up of local advisory boards for the branches of foreign - owned banks. additionally, greater transparency is being required regarding the role of the board of directors, particularly on ethical standards and corporate values. we believe that the soundness and resilience of the banking system, and by extension the financial system, involves, inter alia, the proper functioning of various mechanisms which inevitably entail accountability and transparency. regarding transparency, the bank of mauritius has succeeded with the collaboration of banks, in disclosing the overall camel rating of individual banks on its website and on a biannual basis. mauritius is among the few countries and the first in the sub - saharan region to have gone public with those ratings. i believe that the publication of the camel ratings has brought in higher market discipline in the banking system and is encouraging banks to improve their performance. certain jurisdictions have even embarked on the dissemination of stress - testing results of their commercial banks. we have constantly been modernizing our payments system. the bank of mauritius launched the bulk clearing and cheque truncation system in september 2011. this system allows for electronic clearing of cheques as well as low value payments. we are presently working on a national switch project. as you may be aware, the regional payment and settlement system ( repss ) of the comesa has become operational effective 3 october 2012. the repss is an initiative of the comesa clearing house and is fully endorsed by all comesa member states. the bank of mauritius is the settlement bank in the repss and the status of a settlement bank for such a huge market, spread over a total area of 12. 8 million square kilometres and with a population of 413 million, is a coveted position and will benefit the country ultimately. the repss opens another opportunity for our country to enhance its role in the region. in fact, an efficient cross border payment system is a necessity for trade integration and the future of repss is very