is nothing wrong with greed. in fact, our capitalist system can be interpreted as being based on the concept of greed. it ’ s only when you are far removed from the domain of wisdom that greed takes a strong and pre - dominant foothold in your profession. greed, the predator ’ s gene, has to be tempered by fear of losses. unfortunately, we do not have the philosophical capacity to issue a guideline on greed but we have, years ago, issued a guideline on corporate governance. i urge you all to pay special attention to governance while conducting audits. i am particularly happy to note that there are increasingly more interactions between the accountants in the auditing profession and the bank of mauritius, not only on matters relating to governance but on many aspects of the auditing profession. the bank of mauritius gladly welcomes the interactions. and, finally, a few words on ethical behaviour in the auditing profession. remain loyal to your profession and always guide your clients to the best practices. yours is an honourable profession. maintain the standard required of you. some high profile corporate failures in the past have been caused by creative accounting and concealing the true risks of the companies which were, in certain cases, moved off balance sheet. in some cases, accountants working for these companies devised such financial shenanigans which were facilitated by compliant or complacent auditors. these short term gains often result in long term pains, both for the individuals and the economy, too. never condone such practices. we cannot compromise our reputation by resorting to such questionable practices. a strong and stable banking system is vital to the robustness of an economy. you, as auditors, must refrain, at all cost, from producing audit reports that, instead, contribute to a weakening of the banking system. i am pretty well aware that the bank of mauritius is said to have been very tough and often quite rude with some of you as with others. as i have always said, the bank of mauritius is “ cruel only to be kind ” to you and our jurisdiction. i urge the accountants to reflect on emerging challenges that the profession is facing and request the mipa to collectively take steps to meet those challenges. you must be aware that a lack of skills in certain areas of auditing is now being palpably felt. your association is having a formidable agenda for action. may i wish you all very fruitful deliberations during the forum. i thank you for your attention and wish

turn to the second pillar for financial sector development, namely markets. markets the development of the financial sector cannot be envisaged without the promotion of strong, well - functioning and deep financial markets. significant progress has been achieved in positioning the domestic stock market on the international financial arena. the stock exchange of mauritius ( sem ) is endowed with a state - of - the - art trading infrastructure and, as a result of its good performance, was the second african exchange after the johannesburg securities exchange ( jse ) to attain membership status of the world federation of exchanges ( wfe ) in november 2005. moreover, in about a month, on 1 october 2008, the mauritius stock exchange is scheduled to join the dow jones wilshire global index. in 2007, market capitalisation in us dollars on the sem increased by 70 per cent year - onyear, with non - residents ’ gross inward investment in the equity market registering a record high. the remarkable track record of the sem should induce the private sector to take better advantage in securing long - term funding. the amendments brought in 2007 to the securities act 2005 could give a boost to securities trading on the stock exchange. there is significant room for improvement with regard to development of fixed income markets, which have remained rather shallow and illiquid despite recent interest from foreign investors. traditionally, fixed income markets are important channels through which public and private institutions avail of financial resources for medium - and long - term projects. bond markets also constitute good investment opportunities for long - term investors such as pension funds and insurance companies. there have been a few bond issues lately – including one launched by the european investment bank – and this should be encouraged for the benefit of all stakeholders. in the light of limited success experienced with the secondary trading of treasury bills on the stock exchange of mauritius, the bank of mauritius is currently undertaking a review of the primary dealer system. the central bank is also working on the issue of benchmark bonds in collaboration with bankers. a commodity exchange, named global board of trade ( gbot ), is scheduled for launch in mauritius in january 2009 with the collaboration of financial technologies india ( fti ) ltd. this commodity exchange, which intends to trade commodities and derivative products in metals, oil and agriculture, shall take the mauritian financial system a step further by enabling better enterprise risk management and financial planning. mauritius will also seriously need to contemplate the development of full - fledged currency futures in the near future – that would assist in formation and