caleb m fundanga : financial sector challenges and progress in zambia speech by dr caleb m fundanga, governor of the bank of zambia, at the information exchange forum on sources of finance, lusaka, 10 december 2007. * * * • mr chairman • representatives of international financial institutions • chief executives and representatives of financial institutions • distinguished ladies and gentlemen i am greatly honoured to be given an opportunity to make some remarks at this forum. i wish to extend a warm welcome to all participants gathered here today, particularly those who have travelled from outside the country. i hope that you will not only have fruitful deliberations but also find time to explore the beautiful scenery and experience the warm hospitality that zambia has to offer. mr chairman, ladies and gentlemen, this forum is more than timely as zambia is working tirelessly towards financial deepening, wealth creation and reducing the levels of unemployment. in order to achieve this, affordable financial services should be available to the majority of businesses. in fact, the forum has come at an opportune time when the economy has shown signs of macroeconomic stability and growth. the financial sector in zambia is considered relatively under developed. in spite of this status, post independence governments have always recognised the importance of the financial sector to national economic development. this is the reason why the activities of the sector had up until 1992 been controlled by the state. since then, the financial sector has been liberalized while simultaneously strengthening the regulatory framework. concerned with the limited contribution of the financial sector to economic development, the government devised and formulated policy mechanisms for addressing a number of identified obstacles within the framework of the poverty reduction strategy paper ( prsp ) whose implementation started in 2002. in line with the prsp framework, the world bank and the international monetary fund undertook an assessment of the financial system through the financial sector assessment programme ( fsap ) which was complimented by our own review. some of the principle areas of concern identified included : • low financial intermediation with limited access to financial services, especially for the rural and peri - urban population and the low - to - middle income earners ; • poor credit culture in the market ; • multiple and potentially conflicting roles of the government in the financial sector ; • weak regulatory framework for non - bank financial institutions, insurance and pension funds ; • undeveloped money and capital markets ; and • limited long - term development and housing finance. in recognition of the strategic importance of the financial sector to the country ’ s development and poverty reduction efforts,

thomas jordan : challenges for the snb in extraordinary times introductory remarks by mr thomas jordan, member of the governing board of the swiss national bank, at the half - yearly media news conference, berne, 20 june 2008. * * * around the world, the effects of the financial crisis on the implementation of monetary policy and the composition of central banks ’ balance sheets are becoming more and more apparent. on the one hand, conventional monetary policy has all but exhausted its options, and unconventional measures are being increasingly used. on the other hand, some central banks are having to manage the illiquid assets which they took over in an effort to stabilise the banking system. both of these situations also apply to the swiss national bank. therefore, after giving a brief assessment of the developments in the international financial markets, i will turn my attention to the unconventional monetary policy measures being taken by the snb. i will then move on to discuss the snb stabfund. to conclude, i will look at the risks facing the snb that are associated with these activities. situation in the international financial markets although the first few weeks of the year saw stock markets around the globe experiencing their lowest levels in many years, the surprisingly positive results from the us banking sector in mid - march prompted a turnaround in market sentiment. stock markets have since been recording strong price gains. other financial market segments also saw a significant recovery. as a result, the downward spiral, which was triggered by the collapse of lehman brothers last september and which, for a short while, even threatened to bring the global financial system crashing down, has come to halt. after having climbed to unsustainable highs in recent years, the prices of many investments fell to extremely low levels during the turmoil this past winter. the rapid recovery in the financial markets since march must also be partly regarded as a correction of previous excesses. furthermore, the extremely expansionary monetary policy being pursued worldwide is likely to have also contributed to calming the situation. however, the recovery in the financial markets should not conceal the fact that uncertainty is still high. how sustainable the shift in market sentiment really is remains to be seen. the risk of suffering a setback remains correspondingly high. the snb ’ s unconventional monetary policy measures at our quarterly assessment in march, we were confronted by the need to once again significantly expand our monetary policy. since the repo rates were already practically at zero, we had to resort to unconventional monetary policy measures. we decided