jameel ahmad : launch of environmental and social risk management manual keynote address by mr jameel ahmad, governor of the state bank of pakistan, at the sustainable banking conference, karachi, 9 november 2022. * * * as prepared to deliver in the event dr. shamshad akhtar, chairperson - pakistan stock exchange board, yaseen anwar sahib, senior policy advisor - ifc, mr. toshio odagiri, consul general of japan in karachi, khawaja aftab ahmed, regional director - ifc, zeeshan ahmed sheikh, country manager pakistan & afghanistan - ifc, banks'presidents and ceos, distinguished guests, ladies & gentlemen, assalam o alaikum and a very good morning. it gives me immense pleasure to addressthis esteemed gathering at this conference on sustainable banking, organized jointly by sbp and ifc with the support from the government of japan. this conference aims at creating awareness about risks associated with climate change to the financial sector and provides a platform for deliberating and identifying tangible actions to effectively mitigate and manage these risks. i would like to express my gratitude to both ifc and the government of japan for joining us in organizing this important event. ladies and gentlemen, i was part of the recently concluded imf - world bank annual meetings held in washington dc and one of the spotlight discussions was regarding the threats of climate change to financial stability. a key takeaway from these sessions was the increased realization that climate change is a global issue, which urgently requires a coordinated global response. the world bank has established a new fund, namely " scaling climate action by lowering emissions " for developing countries, which was launched yesterday at the cop27 event in egypt. the detrimental impacts of environmental degradation and climate change on economic growth are real. we all can observe that the climate change is having its toll on pakistan. the weather patterns are changing and recently we have experienced some abnormally high downpours and flooding, never observed in our history. one - third of our country was underwater and one in every seven persons was displaced. ironically there are variations across countries in how the climate change affects the weather patterns, causes flash flooding, droughts, melting of glaciers and rises in sea levels etc. pakistan is ranked among the top 10 countries most vulnerable to climate change. ladies and gentlemen, the transition to a low carbon green economy requires a shift in production and consumption patterns. in this context, the financial industry can play

syed salim raza : reflections on financial sector dynamics keynote address by mr syed salim raza, governor of the state bank of pakistan, at the institute of bankers, karachi, 18 june 2009. * * * it gives me great pleasure to chair this event organized by the institute of bankers and to share some thoughts with senior bankers and the distinguished personalities attending. i wish to congratulate all those who have passed the ibp examination and have qualified for the awards to be distributed today. they deserve much appreciation on their achievement. i am sure the banking industry will utilize their knowledge for the larger benefit of our society and economy. i would like to take this opportunity to share some views on emerging trends in the financial sector. even though financial institutions in pakistan have remained largely insulated from the shocks of the global financial crisis, we cannot ignore the implications of events which started in the summer of 2007 in the global financial system. the crisis brought forth the realization that organizations which are not just too - big - tofail but also too - interconnected - tofail, are the major source of systemic risk. it reinforced the fact that complete reliance on mathematical model - based risk management systems is insufficient in assessing the wide array of risks faced by the financial sector, some of which need a more qualitative analysis and judgment. most importantly, it showed how its protracted duration severely impaired the basic function of the financial sector i. e. efficient allocation of resources in the process of financial intermediation. as i will elaborate, the regulatory focus in pakistan has strived to prevent and mitigate the occurrence of these factors as the financial sector continues to evolve and progress. the banking sector in pakistan has undergone a sea change in the last few years. the unprecedented performance in terms of profitability, in building up a resilient capital base as reflected in the aggregate capital adequacy ratio ( car ), implementation of basel ii and stringent provisioning requirements etc. have all contributed in providing a cushion against shocks from both the external and domestic macro - financial environment. banks in pakistan have been able to withstand the headwinds from weakening macroeconomic fundamentals since fy07. now that the economy is poised for a turnaround, the banking sector has an even more emphatic role to play in supporting the real sector by meeting its financing needs. admittedly, banks face a challenging environment going forward : first, there is increased credit risk in the industry, a large part of