michael gondwe : developing economic and banking opportunities in zambia speech by dr michael gondwe, governor of the bank of zambia, at the official launch of first capital bank zambia limited and opening of its head office, lusaka, 26 november 2013. * * * the chairperson, first capital bank zambia ltd, mr bornwell chiyabi ; the vice chairperson and members of the board her excellency, the high commissioner of kenya to zambia, professor rono his excellency, the high commissioner of malawi to zambia, mr bandawe his excellency the assistant secretary general of comesa the chief executive officer, first capital bank zambia ltd, mr. lalit tewari ; management and staff of first capital bank zambia ltd ; my senior colleagues from the bank of zambia distinguished clients and invited guests ; members of the press ; ladies and gentlemen. it is an honour and privilege to be amongst you at this important occasion this evening. firstly, allow me to express my gratitude to the chief executive officer of first capital bank zambia limited for extending an invitation for me to come and officiate at this landmark event. this evening ’ s occasion marks the official launch of first capital bank ( fcb ) zambia ltd as well as the opening of its new head office. please allow me to congratulate fcb ( z ) ltd on this important occasion. first capital bank zambia limited, as some of you may be aware, has emerged from the former international commercial bank ( icb ). this followed a 100 % acquisition of the share - holding of icb from icb financial group holdings ag of switzerland by a consortium led by first merchant bank ltd ( fmb ) of malawi. afility investment ltd, a zambian controlled investment holding company, is part of this consortium. i am informed that first capital bank will be a local bank with 51 % shareholding to be held by zambians. as a matter of fact, first capital bank is among seven foreign owned banks which have sought and received approval from the bank of zambia to convert to locally owned banks following the new capital requirements. this is a welcome development as it is in line with our government ’ s goal of ensuring that zambians actively participate in the development of the economy. with the launch of fcb at kwacha pension house, the two branches of former icb situated at the corner of washama and great north roads, and cairo road will automatically become part of the first capital bank. this means that fcb

contains sophisticated counterfeit protections ranging from holographic images to ultraviolet features, which will be further enhanced when we switch to a polymer £20 in 2020 ; - the foundation of the payments system, rtgs, which processes over £600 billion of bank - to - bank payments per day to the highest standards of efficiency and resilience ; the data are for 2016. to note, banknotes accounted for 45 % of transactions in 2015, and as such there was a 5 percentage point fall year - on - year which may be related to increased use of cards and online payments. see mcleay, m., radia, a., and thomas, r., ( 2014 ), money creation in the modern economy, bank of england quarterly bulletin 2014 q1, which notes that the reality of how money is created often differs from that found in standard textbooks, and rather than banks receiving deposits when households save and then lending them out, bank lending creates deposits. although it does not target monetary aggregates per se, the bank of england conducts monetary policy to ensure the amount of money creation in the economy is consistent with low and stable inflation. in normal times, the bank of england implements monetary policy by setting the interest rate on central bank reserves. in exceptional times when interest rates cannot be lowered further, the bank implements monetary policy by purchasing assets, which has the by - product of increasing the central bank reserve holdings of private banks. other institutions include legal tender status ( meaning that you cannot be sued for non - payment of debts if you offer sterling to meet them ) and the insurance of deposits of up to £85, 000 at banks and building societies backed by the government. this will feature jmw turner. for further information see https : / / www. bankofengland. co. uk / banknotes / polymer - 20 - pound - note all speeches are available online at www. bankofengland. co. uk / speeches - the monetary policy committee which conducts monetary policy independently to achieve price stability defined by the 2 % inflation target ; - the prudential regulation committee which is charged with ensuring the safety and soundness of the banks and building societies that hold your money ; - the financial policy committee with its wide powers to maintain the resilience of the financial system as a whole ; and - the bank ’ s powers and facilities that provide a wide range of liquidity to banks and other financial institutions in order to promote the continuous functioning of the financial