? today i hope to provide some preliminary responses to these questions. i hope that you will spend time unpacking them in the remaining sessions of the conference. 1 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches first : how do we support the scaling up of blended finance? the ngfs recently published several recommendations on how financial regulators and central banks can support the scaling up of blended instruments. these recommendations were based on several case studies which discussed recent experiences with blended finance instruments. our assessment is that financial regulators and central banks can help with increasing blended finance only as part of a broader country approach to addressing obstacles to climate finance. some of the obstacles to blended finance include the absence of project pipelines or macroeconomic instability due to fiscal crisis. these two obstacles require intervention from fiscal authorities and other parts of government. for some developing countries that are in debt destress, debt restructuring is required, indicating that the success of blended finance instruments in these countries is directly linked to the work of the global sovereign debt roundtable and mechanisms such as the g20 common framework for debt treatments. examples of focus areas for central banks and regulators include addressing data gaps so that financial institutions can price risk appropriately, embedding climate considerations in governance and risk management practices, and understanding the risk profile of different instruments so that these can be treated appropriately in the microprudential framework. data gaps remain a major obstacle to increasing climate financing. financial regulators have an important role to play in addressing these gaps. using appropriate taxonomy and disclosure rules in their regulatory and supervisory approaches can improve information flows and enhance the operations of financial markets. embedding climate considerations in the governance and risk management practices of financial firms helps manage climate - related risks more effectively and improves the allocation of capital across the economy. the ngfs's work on transition planning provides important guidelines on how financial institutions can incorporate climate considerations in all aspects of their operations and manage climate - related risks during the transition. another important area to support the scaling up of blended instruments is around their risk treatment in the regulatory and supervisory frameworks. financial regulators face increasing pressure to reduce the risk weights associated with blended financial instruments. lower weights can decrease capital costs and support the expansion of blended finance. this brings us to our second question. how do we identify the risks embedded in different blended instruments? in many cases, reducing the risk weights of blended instruments is justified. but is it justified in all cases? we face several challenges in our regulatory treatment of blended instrument. for example :

; or reduce the cost of producing the cash, while at the same time enhancing the security and durability of the currency. a new challenge for central banks is the requirement that all key business areas should be included in effective contingency plans. high profile incidents around the world have highlighted the importance of central banks having in place, considered and tested plans, to deal with outages due to everything from supplier problems to natural disasters. generally, central banks source their banknotes from one, or a small number of international companies. currency managers need to weigh - up the importance of price against considerations, such as time of delivery, quantity of order and quality of product. they also need to consider if more than one supplier for, say ink, could be beneficial for operational risk concerns. procurement from external suppliers is expensive, complex and may span several years. as with any outsourcing arrangement, production and quality, a standard needs to be monitored. the impact of technical innovations for the distribution of cash or payment mechanisms is developing at a rapid pace, especially for the under - banked. the use of mobile phone technology to transfer money is becoming a popular method due to efficiency and the lower cost associated with this payment mechanism. a further consideration by central banks is the cost that security features add to the banknote production process. we all appreciate the need for security features to avoid the counterfeiting of banknotes, but the question is at what cost and whether these costs can be optimised? these issues will be presented and debated upon during the next few days by all the participants and hopefully assist central banks with their deliberations in this regard. the objective is, through the diverse nature of attendees at this conference, to improve the understanding of the issues for those involved in providing and managing banknotes ; coins and other secure documents and at the same time improving the understanding of the consumers ’ needs by the suppliers. the conference has set out to achieve this with a mixture of presentations, workshops and panel discussions that touch on the latest developments and technologies in the industry and allow adequate time for discussion and dialogue. you are all encouraged to seek answers by asking questions and discussing the issues. the overall aim is to improve understanding through education – africa has some catching - up to do, compared with the rest of the world. this is our attempt to start that ball rolling strongly in the field of banknotes, coins, id and other security documents and to position this great continent as a producer, as well