Combatting fraud is a high priority for the Bank, and we will continue to work with the financial industry, Government agencies and law enforcement authorities to further improve banking and payment fraud incident response and recovery actions. Alongside these efforts, increasing digital and financial literacy will be extremely important to build and preserve confidence in the use of digital financial services. Learning how to use digital financial services safely is just one dimension. An important goal of improving digital financial literacy is also to help individuals make better use of digital financial services to improve their financial well-being. With an explosion of digital tools that can help individuals plan and manage their finances better, a much wider range of financial solutions, and easier access to financial advice - financial literacy, including digital financial literacy, is critical to help individuals navigate the complexity that comes with more choice. Faced with the same set of choices, individuals armed with the knowledge and skills to make good choices and good use of facilities available to them could significantly improve their standard of living, while others who make poor financial choices could be plunged into personal financial hardship. 15. The Financial Literacy Month this year aims to amplify the importance of digital financial literacy in helping Malaysians build financial resilience, and enable them to participate fully in the digital economy with confidence. Our efforts should reduce the digital divide, expand accessibility, and strengthen individual skills to manage money wisely. 16.
As I understand, First Capital Bank has plans to increase its foot prints in Zambia and I hope that the bank will open up branches in other districts of BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  Zambia. This will enable it to enhance financial inclusion, which is among the country’s key priorities. Chairperson I have been informed that FCB has initiated the process of acquiring new state of the art banking software, and is in the process of introducing a full range of IT related products like internet banking, mobile banking and visa card. This demonstrates the bank’s strong and longterm commitment to becoming an important player in the development of our financial sector. This is no doubt driven by the confidence FCB has in the Zambian economy. Ladies and gentleman Zambia’s economy has continued to show resilience in the midst of a slowdown in the global economy as a result of the on-going Euro zone debt crisis and the sluggish growth in the United States of America and some leading emerging market countries including the BRICS. Economic performance has been strong with GDP growth in 2012 at 7.3%. Inflation has continued to be in single digits and was 6.9% in October this year. Although the exchange rate of the Kwacha against major international currencies has been under pressure, it has remained relatively stable, while the country has maintained a positive account balance over the last four years.