ignazio visco : translating a shared vision into a winning story welcoming remarks by mr ignazio visco, governor of the bank of italy, at the t2s launch celebration, milan, 2 july 2015. * * * good afternoon. president draghi, colleagues of the european central bank, of the european parliament and the eu commission, ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure and privilege to welcome you all here today, in milan ( the destination of the year, let me say in passing ), to share this important moment : the launch of the target2securities platform. for the euro area and the eurosystem, we are now living through what is, to say the least, a challenging period. this acknowledged, we must nonetheless recognize that t2s is a major achievement. this ambitious project is now reality thanks to the combined effort and cooperation of 21 countries - represented by their central banks, central securities depositories and financial market institutions - together with the european institutions : the ecb, the parliament and the commission. the t2s platform that has been built by four national central banks – banca d ’ italia, deutsche bundesbank, banque de france, banco de espana ( the so - called 4cbs ) - is now in operation with a first group of securities depositories and their linked - in user communities for the settlement of securities transactions in euro. by february 2017, at the end of the migration period, the platform will be deployed across europe, covering the vast majority of securities transactions in euro. the activities that took place over the migration weekend of 20 - 21 june ran smoothly. they were coordinated by the teams from the 4cbs and the ecb. since the 22nd, banca d ’ italia and bundesbank have had the responsibility for operating the platform. the t2s project was large and complex, involving many stakeholders. we have come a long way : from the start of the specification phase to the go - live, the project took seven years. the 4cbs, mandated by the eurosystem, developed and implemented the platform. this has been a demanding task, one to which our institutions have devoted substantial resources. aside from the role of developer and operator of t2s, the four central banks have been actively involved in the project through the participation in technical and steering structures with an important role in the governance of the platform. the participation of securities depositories in t2s is voluntary

considerable progress has been made in licensing two dtms, the central bank is concerned at the slow uptake of this new avenue for microfinance institutions to be mainstreamed into the financial sector. we are therefore engaging the microfinance industry through its umbrella body the association of microfinance institutions ( amfi ). this engagement aims at identifying the bottlenecks for microfinance institutions some of which include : costs associated with roll out of branch networks and ict infrastructure. restructuring of shareholding of microfinance institutions to comply with shareholding restrictions specified in the microfinance act. the act restricts shareholding by an individual or entity to 25 % of the institution ’ s share capital. mfis are constituted in various forms including non governmental organisations and trusts. under the act, transforming mfis are required to be incorporated as limited liability companies registered under the companies act. the incorporation process takes considerable time and expense and may deter some mfis from applying for a dtm license. anecdotal evidence also seems to suggest a “ wait and see ” approach by a number of potential deposit taking mfis as they assess the experience and performance of the pioneer regulated dtms. the central bank would like to take upon itself the task of dislodging the “ waiting option ” from this sector of the market. the central bank of kenya is currently drawing up proposals for review of the microfinance legal and regulatory framework. i should stress that the bank will continue to consult with market players as this process moves forward. we therefore, look forward to drawing valuable lessons from this summit to enhance kenya ’ s microfinance legal and regulatory framework. we stand ready to advice, cultivate partnership and only regulate when rules are flouted. with these few remarks, ladies and gentlemen, it is now my honour to welcome the deputy prime minister and minister for finance, hon. uhuru kenyatta to make some remarks to this summit and to invite his excellency the president of the republic of kenya to officially open the africa - middle east microcredit summit. thank you.