Your Excellency, distinguished guests, given the menace of the growing trend in drug trafficking in the sub-region, the Bank, under its obligation to comply with all international standards on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT), has in collaboration with its partners, reviewed the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2005 to address its inadequacies. The AML/CFT Bill 2009 has been approved by Cabinet and is now awaiting legislative enactment. In the meantime, the Bank is enforcing the current AntiMoney Laundry Act through its Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). In this regard, the Bank in close collaboration with the Anti Corruption Commission is examining the possibility of signing a Memorandum of Understanding for investigation and prosecution in relation to money laundering and other financial crimes that involve suspicious transactions and politically exposed persons. Oversight of the payments and settlement system Your Excellency, distinguished guests, the Bank, with the support of its development partners, has embarked on modernization of the payments, clearing and settlement systems by implementing A SWIFT FIN Copy Service in April 2010. This will enable the settlement of large value interbank transactions faster and reduce the risk element.
BIS central bankers’ speeches  7  With supervision by WAMI and funding from the African Development Bank (AfDB), the following payments system reforms are at various stages of implementation:   The infrastructure of the Bank is being upgraded to state-of-the art IP-based data communication networks, supported by a reliable uninterrupted power supply;    The state of preparedness of the commercial banks for connectivity to BSL in a bid to ensure the efficiency of the payments system is in the process of being reviewed;    The payments system components of core banking application, automated cheque processing (ACP), automated clearing house (ACH), real time gross settlement and scriptless security settlement are currently being deployed;    The proposed deployment, by a private company, of fibre optic for connectivity between the commercial banks and the Bank of Sierra Leone is in progress. Financial Inclusion for poverty reduction and growth promotion Your Excellency, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, the Bank seeks in its operations to go beyond monetary policy to promote poverty reduction, create employment and growth through enhancing access to finance in the rural areas which constitute a significant proportion of the economy. The Bank welcomes the growth in the number of microfinance institutions (MFIs), Financial Services Associations (FSAs), the opening of new branches of banks and the introduction of mobile banking in a move to improve rural financial intermediation. As the number of these institutions increases, the challenge would be to effectively supervise and regulate them.