##ing higher levels of savings to support higher investment rates ; iii. greater efficiency in the delivery of financial services to ensure that the cost of mobilising resources and allocating these resources becomes increasingly affordable and that the range and quality of services better caters to the needs of both savers and investors ; iv. enhanced stability in the system to ensure that all banks and other deposit - taking financial institutions can safely handle the public ’ s savings and ensure that the bis central bankers ’ speeches chances of a financial crisis – with all the costs that this would imply – are kept to a minimum ; and v. to make kenya one of the ranked financial centres in “ emerging markets ” by 2030. ladies and gentlemen : in the first five years of vision 2030, 2008 – 2013, the major reforms and initiatives undertaken in the financial sector to enhance financial stability, efficiency and access include : • licensing of deposit taking microfinance banks ; • introduction of agency banking to increase reach with least cost ; • automation of bond trading and lengthening the maturity of treasury bonds to 30 years ; • development of a capital markets master plan to chart the development of kenya ’ s securities markets for 10 years ; • introduction of credit information sharing and licensing of two credit reference bureaus ; • introduction of bancassurance products ; • enactment of the proceeds of crime and anti - money laundering act in 2009 and the establishment of the anti - money laundering board in june 2011 ; • the development of a regulatory framework for deposit taking savings and credit cooperatives ( saccos ) ; and • strengthened oversight of the insurance sector following the adoption of risk based supervision by the insurance regulatory authority ( ira ). ladies and gentlemen : the financial sector has started to register significant achievements out of the outlined reforms and initiatives among others. allow me to briefly mention some of these achievements. the contribution of the financial services sector to kenya ’ s economic growth has been on an upward trend from 3. 7 % of gdp in 2009 to 9. 2 % of gdp in 2013. over the same period, the sector grew faster than the economy. the financial sector grew by 9. 3 % in 2013 as compared to the economy which grew by 5. 7 %. this was an improvement from 4. 9 % growth by the sector in 2008 compared to the gdp growth of 0. 2 %. as a result, the financial services sector is one of the main drivers of kenya ’ s economic growth. the national financial access surveys conducted in 2006, 2009 and

centre authority ( nifca ). nifca will drive the process of establishing nairobi international financial centre ( nifc ). consequently, an interim secretariat for nairobi international financial centre authority ( nifca ) was established at the national treasury. the secretariat is currently engaging public and private sector players to inform the development of a comprehensive legal and regulatory framework for nifc. this is one of the pillars making kenya the financial hub of eastern africa. these successes notwithstanding, there remain challenges for us to address. first, 25 % of adult kenyans are still excluded from financial services. as a result, we need to re - energise our efforts to address any remaining barriers for the majority of kenyans to access financial services. the main barriers are the cost of financial services and the use and quality of financial services. the use and quality challenges pinpoint the need for enhanced consumer protection, financial education and above all information symmetry across the divide. ladies and gentlemen : in order to address the existing challenges in the financial sector, the vision 2030 ’ s medium term plan for 2013 – 2017 has outlined the following flagship projects : i. establishment of the nairobi international financial centre to raise funds for projects and tap into new investments coming to africa. ii. deepening of capital markets through a robust policy and regulatory framework to stimulate long - term savings to finance investments by the government and private sector. iii. promoting east african community financial services integration to facilitate trade, enable cross - border operations and movement of capital. iv. facilitating the expansion of electronic payments to significantly reduce transaction costs across the financial system, especially in the provision of retail financial services. v. development of a national financial education and consumer protection strategy and framework to enhance usage and quality of financial services. given that most of you are from the insurance sector, you appreciate its importance in raising long - term funds to support economic development. this is particularly important in the capital markets that provide suitable long - term investment vehicles for insurance products. kenya ’ s insurance sector has played a pivotal role in development of the domestic bonds market. it is therefore important that we upscale the insurance penetration to mobilise additional longterm funds. the finaccess survey for 2013 indicated that just about 7 % of adult kenyans bis central bankers ’ speeches access insurance products. there is hence a huge market in kenya waiting to be discovered by insurance players. the challenge is to design suitable, affordable and accessible products to tap this nascent market. ladies and gentlemen