5.4  Cost of banking services  •  It has been observed that the Zambian banking industry has one of the highest operating costs when compared to other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. In turn, the cost structure makes it difficult to develop efficient, low cost services that the general populace can afford. The challenge for the industry is to come up with innovative ways and means of providing banking services at affordable costs in order to capture the larger un-banked population and also improve economic activities in productive sectors. This challenge is slowly being addressed in various ways including the following:  5.5  i. Consumer awareness through quarterly publication of bank charges in the daily papers of circulation in order to allow the public an opportunity to make informed decisions by comparing charges offered by banks; and  ii. Banks are required to comply with the Cost of Borrowing Regulations of 1995 and to disclose to the borrower the cost of borrowing whenever a loan is made. Corporate governance  In recent years, corporate governance has emerged on the global agenda as a key part of the pursuit of proper and effective business practice. The objective being the need for probity in business activity, compliance with the law and regulations, and to secure good reputation and confidence and thus attract investment. At the heart of the debate on good corporate governance lie the conflicts or potential conflicts of interest, between shareholders and either the board of directors as whole or individual board members.
At 8 per cent, the vacancy rate is still relatively high, although in some central areas, it has fallen to below 4 per cent. The share of vacant office premises in Bergen has been lower than in Oslo for the past three years. The value of property has increased, both in Norway and in other countries, even though the rise in rental rates has been moderate and the vacancy rate has been high. Investors have been willing to pay more than previously for a krone, a dollar or a euro in future net rental income. The direct return, i.e. annual rental income minus operating costs as a share of the price paid for the property, for office premises in Oslo has fallen to a historically low level. This is probably related to developments in longterm interest rates. An investor will expect a higher return on property, and property as an asset class is probably midway between equities and bonds in terms of both risk and return. Since nominal interest rates are low, many investors prefer to move their low-risk investments from the bond market to alternative vehicles such as property. Developments in the real value of office premises and our estimates of capacity utilisation in the Norwegian economy seem to co-vary in the period 1980-2005. The effect on the value of office premises prior to the banking crisis was much greater than the effect of a similar level of capacity utilisation in the years 1998-2000.