Your Excellency, distinguished guests, with the increase in the number of banks, the Bank of Sierra Leone has taken steps to ensure that commercial banks are adequately capitalized to absorb shocks and enhance their capacity to extend credit. In this regard, the Bank has increased the required minimum paid-up capital from Le15 billion in 2009 to Le30 billion over a five year period and preliminary indications are that most commercial banks have met this minimum capital as at end December 2010. Cross-border challenges Your Excellency, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, as investors extend their investment outreach across national frontiers, the Bank of Sierra Leone has in addition to signing a memorandum of understanding for information sharing last year in the WAMZ member states, has also seen the need for further action to enhance cooperation with other supervisory bodies in the sub region. To this end, Sierra Leone became a member of The College of Supervisors of the West African Monetary Zone in 2010, an institution set up to coordinate and harmonize supervisory information and practices among central banks of WAMZ member countries. At its recent meeting held in Accra, the College agreed, amongst others that:   Capacity building through training to be delivered by WAIFEM, should be central to its future operations;    A common supervisory framework for member countries should be established;    Financial Stability Reporting should be standardized and uniform; and    Regional corporate governance guidelines should be developed.
The Bank has benefitted from capacity building, training, technical assistance, and funding from:   The African Development Bank (AfDB);    The Association of African Central Banks (AACB);    The British Department for International Development (DFID);    The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS);    The European Union (EU);    The German Technical Cooperation (GTZ);    The International Monetary Fund (IMF);    The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD);    The Reconstruction Credit Institute (KFW);    The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP);    The West African Monetary Agency (WAMA);    The West African Monetary Institute (WAMI);    The West African institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM); and  BIS central bankers’ speeches  9    The World Bank  This list is by no means exhaustive. We want to assure these organisations of our cooperation at all times and we know that with their continued support we shall maintain the course despite the challenges of our time.