Today, I would like to offer some of my observations on current conditions and share with you what I have learned in discussions with community bankers across the nation. This input has shaped my views of how supervision and regulation are affecting community banks in these challenging times— what is working, and what needs to improve.
It is not an artificially low price, held down by policies that we cannot sustain or that are inconsistent with our economic conditions. There is another reason the prices of South African assets are attractive, and that is the exchange rate. As you know, in South Africa we have a free-floating exchange rate, and we are very tolerant of exchange rate fluctuations.