immune responses at threats, and direct them away from our own bodies, are called ‘ regulatory t cells ’, although i doubt they were named after prudential regulators! but they do what we need to do when we choose to take action. we need to boost the health of the markets we oversee, by letting our ‘ regulatory t - cells ’ target the threats we face in a tailored manner, leaving the healthy parts undisturbed. this is why, for example, we are building what we call a strong and simple framework for small domestic banks and building societies for whom basel standards were not designed. [ 6 ] it ’ s why we narrowed the gap between capital requirements for smaller banks using the standardised approach and larger banks using the internal ratings - based approach – in a way that reflects the risks they take and facilitates competition and healthier markets. [ 7 ] it ’ s why we established a new bank start - up unit that, since 2013, has authorised thirty new banks to take on incumbents. [ 8 ] it ’ s why we are taking steps to streamline processes for authorizing some ventures in the wholesale insurance and reinsurance sector. [ 9 ] and it ’ s why we, along with the government, are considering a mobilisation regime for new insurers as part of the solvency ii review. in these instances, our ‘ regulatory t cells ’ told us that we could takes steps to boost the health of markets while maintaining strong protection against risks from disorderly failure. responsive regulation can be a helping hand boosting competition, not a dead hand stifling innovation. international competitiveness effective competition is already a secondary objective for the pra. but as i mentioned earlier, we will soon have another secondary objective to facilitate ( subject to alignment with international standards ) the international competitiveness of the uk economy, including in particular the uk ’ s financial services sector. this objective will also include facilitating medium to long term growth. i ’ m going to turn now to how we intend to use our new powers to pursue this new objective. this is going to be a very important change for us. we will have many opportunities to review areas of policy that have been fixed in legislation up to now. it will allow us to be proactive about finding opportunities to support competitiveness and growth without undermining our primary objectives. we will work hard to identify and act on them. many factors underpin the international competitiveness of the uk as a financial centre. most importantly

less default by borrowers and appropriate pricing of credit. our partnership with the kenya bankers association in this project has yielded considerable results. two credit reference bureaus have been licensed and there is active engagement with all commercial banks and the deposit protection fund in exchange of information on non - performing loans. a total of 1, 306, 439 and 6, 041 credit reports have so far been accessed by banks and bank customers respectively from the two licensed credit reference bureaus. this translates to a monthly average of 76, 849 and 355 credit reports for banks and bis central bankers ’ speeches bank customers respectively. this uptake of credit referencing is quite encouraging and this will be a pillar of growth in the kenyan financial sector. having said that, ladies and gentlemen, we are alive to the fact that the current cis mechanism has a number of challenges. these challenges may be categorised into four broad areas. first and most critical is that the current system is limited to commercial banks and, very soon, to deposit taking microfinance institutions. if this is allowed to continue, various credit providers may create “ silo ” databases, often referred to as “ segmented ” information sharing. credit reports generated by such systems give an incomplete and often misleading picture. “ comprehensive ” systems, by contrast, allow a more complete credit profile of a consumer to be drawn. for small businesses, it also includes trade credit data and leasing arrangements. these non - financial services, such as utility and telephone services, are usually more common than are financial payment data, particularly in less developed markets, where, for example, the number of cell phone users may far outstrip the number of credit card users. the use of non - financial data in credit files offers the promise of a diversified information capital that will facilitate extension of reasonably - priced credit to those who have not previously accessed formal credit. the second challenge is the need to move towards achieving full file reporting by participating institutions. full file reporting, that is, sharing of both negative and positive information on customers is important as it enables risk based pricing through credit scoring. it is important to have full file reporting to facilitate credit scoring mechanism and enhance the information capital. further, full file comprehensive credit reporting systems are more successful at expanding access to credit, improving loan performance and preventing over indebtedness. we therefore appeal to the credit providers on the need to consider sharing full file information, in order for our market to enjoy the full benefits of the cis mechanism. third