course, it is important that this industry, which is important to the economy ’ s development, is sustainable, transparent and adequately regulated. the series of drafted laws has passed the first reading in the state duma, and now there is serious work to be done in preparing them for the second reading. the most important of these is the introduction of a unified system for evaluating business reputation, management qualification requirements and requirements for the founders and owners of non - bank financial institutions. such requirements are already defined in the banking system, and it ’ s very important to increase the responsibility of the owners and management of financial organisations for their sustainability and good governance, and in our opinion it is very important to bring in similar norms for non - banking organisations too. another draft law currently in the duma, and now particularly important, aims to improve the effectivity of regulation in the fight with insider trading and market manipulation. at the moment our legislation lags behind global practices. we understand what an urgent topic this is, and in order to make our economy more attractive to investors there should of course be effective mechanisms in place to counter insider trading and market manipulation. the next important issue is the bill concerning a financial ombudsman for the rights of consumers of financial services. recently at the state council presidium there was discussion about rights protection for consumers of financial services, and, of course, a financial ombudsman could be one of the instruments used to increase the effectivity of consumers ’ rights protection. we propose to bring this in gradually. and here, too, i hope i can count on support for this project from the ministry of finance and the government and state duma as a whole. these bills are in the process of being finalised before submission to the state duma. firstly, for us it is important that a bill toughens liability for false statements in the financial sector. we are carrying out major work on improving the cyber resilience of financial organisations and combatting cyber attacks. so it is important for us, taking into account the benefits of digital technology development for the financial sphere, to provide an adequate level of security and protection from risks. therefore it is necessary to amend the law in order to establish legal requirements for the protection of financial organisations ’ information and to combat theft of their clients ’ funds. we are now working on drafting this bill, too. and also worthy of note is our work, together with the ministry of finance, on the initiative for the pension savings

bank was laid over time. i have the confidence that cdh investment bank will continue to approach banking in this innovative way in order to make a difference in our financial sector. as we all know, investors, whether local or foreign, require professional financial advisory services to undertake their investments. i would therefore like to encourage cdhib to continue developing capacity in this area of banking i. e. investment banking and financial advisory, which are evidently under - served in our financial market. the central bank would like to see bis central bankers ’ speeches the development of a robust capital market which is capable of attracting both local and international capital investment. i would like to see banks and financial institutions playing their rightful role in the development of this country. it is said, and rightly so, that the development of any country depends largely on the robustness of its financial sector. i am pleased to note that banks in malawi are strong enough to be able to foster the development that we all desire to have. but perhaps, more needs to be done to make banking more accommodating of the needs of the private sector. i would also like to see banks applying more innovation in serving some of the important but under - served sectors such as agriculture, tourism, to name but a few. the financing for the production of exports is really what will take this country forward. i am pleased to note that there are a few investors in malawi who have taken up production for exports. i would like all banks to support them with the right financing products as one way of promoting production for exports. i have also gladly noted some businesses investing in value addition to agricultural products. again, this needs to be supported because it is through value addition that exports start to earn more foreign exchange. the country ’ s yawning balance of payments deficit will not be closed by government. it is through private sector exports that we will be able to deal with this huge gap between imports and exports. the trade deficit is one of the biggest enemies of our economy. it is this trade gap that threatens our exchange rate stability. therefore, it requires concerted efforts to improve our export base. the reserve bank, on its part will do all it can to achieve macro - economic stability which among other things includes a lower interest rates environment to enable businesses to thrive. we have the capacity to deliver on our constitutional mandate. distinguished ladies and gentlemen, this function is therefore a very important one. as we have heard, the building was constructed in 1991