s understanding of financial services through financial education and literacy. we have made progress in some areas but a lot of work still needs to be done. some of our recent achievements include : • new cbsi act : a new cbsi act was passed by parliament in november last year and one of the new provisions in the law is to specifically include financial inclusion as a mandate of the bank. this now formalises the bank ’ s involvement in financial inclusion activities. • review of legal framework : and to ensure that our other laws also support these efforts, we have, with adb support, completed a review of other laws and policies last year to ensure any legal impediments to financial services innovation are identified and addressed. • simplified kyc requirements : one of the barriers is the stringent bank requirements for opening bank accounts. so in collaboration with the anti money laundering commission, we have issued to the commercial banks simple requirements for identifying customers when opening bank accounts. this will make it easier for more rural people to open accounts with the banks. • financial education : in partnership with the ministry of education, we have set up a working committee to integrate financial education into the national school curriculum, targeting class one up to form three. the revision of the curriculum has bis central bankers ’ speeches been done but further work is required to prepare course materials and train teachers. • adult financial literacy : this is a very important area for us, given the low literacy level in the country especially among rural adults. the central bank is actively engaged in financial literacy through its money smart day programs, its weekly money matters radio program, and also through financial literacy workshops for communities and women groups. these achievements have been possible because of close collaboration and partnership with key stakeholders. working together with other stakeholders is critical if we are to achieve the goals and objectives we have set ourselves in terms of financial inclusion. i am sure this is also true for your respective countries. but i think our biggest weakness is trying to measure what we have done. how are we performing against our set targets? this is where data and indicators become very important. we need relevant data to measure progress and review our performance. and i am delighted to note that the whole of tomorrow is devoted to this very important issue. concluding remarks i would like to conclude by reiterating the importance of continuing to work together to address our common challenges as we strive to enable more of our people benefit from financial services. at the same time i would like to register our appreciation to

the role the credit unions play in the financial system as very vital. while they remain pivotal to the informal financial sector, credit unions play a very vital link with the formal banking sector, not to mention the important place they have in promoting and encouraging development of financial services in this country. under the legal framework however, credit unions are privately owned institutions, which are managed by a board and management, appointed by the members. that being the case, the central bank does not interfere with the way credit unions manage their businesses. cbsi however, subscribes to the philosophy behind the credit unions movement : that members working in cooperative spirit to encourage the habit of savings and educating them in the wise use of credit. the more educated credit unions members in the management of their money, the better it is for the financial sector and the economy. to this end cbsi has provided substantial support to the credit union movement over the years through the credit union league. cbsi would like to see a strong league office which is able to deliver services as expected under the credit union act to its member credit unions. cbsi support would continue but at the same time the bank believes that it is now time to promote and encourage other alternative and inclusive ways of delivering financial services to the majority of the solomon islands population. putting value on information finally i would like to stress the importance of this workshop. during the next few days valuable information and ideas will be imparted to you. this workshop will only be useful if what you learn from it is put into practice. no doubt you will agree that information is not cheap and instructions to better manage and run your credit unions can be very expensive, if these are not put to practice. i sincerely hope that you will do the right thing to ensure your credit unions are better managed for the greater good of your members and financial services development as a whole. in conclusion, let me take this opportunity to thank you all for the commitment and effort you have shown to attend this workshop. i am sure the next two days will prove useful in strengthening your credit unions compliance with the credit union act. thank you for listening.