michael gondwe : supervision of non - banks and microfinance institutions remarks by dr michael gondwe, governor of the bank of zambia, at the opening ceremony of the macroeconomic and financial management institute of eastern and southern africa ( mefmi ) regional workshop on “ supervision of non - banks and microfinance institutions ”, lusaka, 8 april 2013. * * * the mefmi programme officer, distinguished resource persons, mefmi staff, participants, ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to officiate at this workshop on supervision of non - bank financial institutions and microfinance organised by the financial sector management programme of mefmi. may i take this opportunity, on behalf of mefmi and on my own behalf, to welcome you all to this important workshop and, in particular, to welcome you to lusaka. i urge you to make some time to visit and sample some of the beautiful spots that our city and country has to offer. i also wish to welcome and thank our distinguished resource persons mr. japheth katto from capital markets authority of uganda, mr. nkosilathi moyo from world vision here in zambia, mrs. rachel mushosho from the reserve bank of zimbabwe and mr. kagisanyo kelobang from the african development bank ( afdb ) in tunis for accepting invitations to present at this workshop and hope that their participation will enrich the deliberations of this workshop as well as increase the knowledge of the participants. ladies and gentlemen, non - bank financial institutions are a significant component of the financial sector as their assets constitute a significant proportion of the total financial sector assets in most countries in the region. similarly, microfinance institutions play a critical role in poverty alleviation and economic empowerment of marginalized communities in our region. as such these institutions are systemically important as they can exacerbate the fragility of the financial system particularly where there is lack of effective regulation. over the past few years, we have seen a trend where these institutions have increased in numbers in our region ; some have been established as part of financial conglomerates while others are on a standalone basis. sadly, our supervisory and regulatory structures for this sector in the mefmi region have remained rather incoherent and somewhat underdeveloped to handle the challenges that have been identified with this sector. the trend makes it more important than ever for supervisors in the region to get together and talk about

caleb m fundanga : increasing access to financial services in zambia remarks by dr caleb m fundanga, governor of the bank of zambia, at the official opening of national savings and credit bank, lukulu branch, lusaka, 27 may 2009. * * * the guest of honour ; the honourable minister of finance and national planning ; dr. situmbeko musokotwane, mp the honourable minister for western province ; the deputy permanent secretary for western province ; the honourable members of parliament for lukulu east and west ; the acting ngambela imbua imwaka representing the barotse royal establishment ; the district commissioners for lukulu and kaoma ; the board and management of national savings and credit bank ; distinguished invited guests ; ladies and gentlemen. 1. on behalf of the bank of zambia governor, i would like to thank the board of directors and management of national savings and credit bank for inviting us to the occasion of the opening of another rural branch in zambia, this time in lukulu. 2. national savings and credit bank ( also commonly referred to as natsave ) was established on 1 april 1972 by the national savings and credit bank act of 1972 and it commenced business operations in march 1973. the amendments to the banking and financial services act of 2000 extended the supervisory authority of the bank of zambia to natsave which was until then, supervised by the ministry of finance and national planning ( mofnp ). 3. natsave was set up to administer savings and to provide credit facilities in urban, periurban and rural areas to individuals and small business enterprises. its business strategy is to target the low and medium income earners through the establishment of a sustainable network of outlets and by offering sustainable financial services. the bank has continued to be a leading public vehicle in ensuring financial inclusion to all citizens across the country through the vast branch network. currently, natsave has 27 branches ( including lukulu branch ), spread across the country. 4. honourable ministers and distinguished invited guests, a key element in the strategy of poverty reduction is the provision of financial services to the majority of our people, the small and micro enterprises who have traditionally been neglected by the formal banking sector. natsave ’ s expansion program therefore has the potential to improve access to financial services and enhance competition in the financial sector. this improves financial services delivery to the zambian people and brings more of the financially excluded population to the financial institutions. the bank