yandraduth googoolye : leasing – fuelling the economy address by mr yandraduth googoolye, first deputy governor of the bank of mauritius, at the launching ceremony of the conference “ leasing : fuelling the economy ”, organized by the association of leasing companies, port - louis, 6 october 2009. * * * ladies and gentlemen good morning at the outset i must congratulate the association of leasing companies, mauritius, for coming out with this initiative of organising a conference to underscore the significance of leasing as a vehicle of economic development. i am happy to note that the association, intends, among others, to play an educative role of increasing awareness of the benefits of leasing and asset finance to specific legislative and business audiences as well as to the general community and that this conference is being organised in furtherance of this objective. i do recall that mr jugurnauth had during one of the meetings with us some time back mentioned about the association wanting to hold this conference and had sought our support. i had told him then that the bank as a regulator would support such efforts. a study by international finance corporation ( ifc ) observes that leasing plays an important role in promoting a strong and sustainable private sector in emerging markets, particularly as it supports underserved markets, such as micro, small, and medium enterprises, to gain access to finance. moreover, in emerging markets, leasing can be a major financing tool to enable growth and investment in infrastructure, construction and the services sectors. leasing is also seen as a favoured vehicle for smes as it bridges a significant gap in their access to finance arena. this is because, • firstly, as an asset - backed term financing product, leasing helps avoid need for collaterals ; and, • secondly, leasing institutions are expected to develop or possess critical skills that give them a strong comparative advantage on the sme client segment. this seems to be the case in mauritius too which is perhaps why the government chose the leasing companies to channel its assistance to the sme sector as part of the stimulus package in the wake of the global crisis. as a base definition, leasing can be considered as a written agreement under which a property owner allows a tenant to use the property for a specified period of time and rent. however, over time leasing has evolved into a method of financial intermediation where people who have capital or access to capital buy assets for use by economic operators in need of those assets. as this

some insights to this process of integration. ladies and gentlemen : anti - money laundering ( aml ) and combatting the financing of terrorism remains a challenge to us all. the heavy cash - based nature of the east african economies, civil conflicts and porous borders make the region particularly vulnerable to money laundering and financing of terrorism. however significant progress has been made across the region in strengthening aml / cft regulatory regimes particularly with the support of the eastern africa anti - money laundering group ( esaamlg ). the growth of mobile phone financial services across the region will also significantly reduce the risk of aml / cft with the tractability of mobile phone financial transactions and reduction of usage of informal financial services. let us all agree that it is the informality of financial markets that will allow bad regimes of aml / cft to thrive – we need then to formalize markets. kenya and tanzania have been incorporated in the financial action task force ( fatf ) public list of countries with deficiencies in their aml / cft legal and regulatory frameworks. bis central bankers ’ speeches uganda has recently been added to this list. significant progress has been made in both kenya and tanzania in enacting and implementing the requisite aml / cft regimes. nairobi is also this week hosting the fatf regional review group meeting for middle east and africa that will review progress made in kenya and tanzania in addressing aml / cft deficiencies. i am sure that we will continue to strengthen our aml / cft regimes across the region given the strong political commitment and support from government, the private sector and the general public. i expect that this summit will also generate practical recommendations on how aml / cft regimes across the region can be strengthened. ladies and gentlemen : as i draw to a close, i urge you to draw from the varied experiences of the high calibre facilitators and participants in this forum to come up with recommendations that will enhance the east african financial markets ’ governance, risk and a policy convergence environment. this will in turn enable our envisaged regional financial markets to attract the capital that is required to finance the eac ’ s ambitious development agenda and also leave no room for informal financial markets to thrive. it is now my distinct honour to declare this summit officially open. thank you. bis central bankers ’ speeches