Caleb M Fundanga: Bank of Zambia Risk Management Framework Opening remarks by Dr Caleb M Fundanga, Governor of the Bank of Zambia, at the Risk Management Framework Sensitisation Workshop for Board of Directors, Chisamba, 24-26 November 2006. *  *  *  • Chairperson • Directors • Ladies and Gentlemen I wish to welcome you all to the first in the series of the Risk Management Framework Sensitisation Workshops organised by the Risk Management Department. As the Directors are, no doubt aware, the Board approved the establishment of a Risk Management function at the Bank of Zambia in February 2006. Following this approval, the Risk Management department was created to, among other duties, coordinate Bank-wide risk management activities, for which Heads of Departments remain primarily responsible. In this regard, my vision is to move the Bank to a position where risk management becomes our way of doing things. This workshop, therefore, is one critical step towards achieving this vision. Directors would agree with me that Risk Management has always been part and parcel of the financial sector, and as financial industry authorities, central banks are no exception to this. The increasing pace of globalisation, largely, on account of advancements in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), has provided an added impetus for institutions to strengthen their governance structures, including implementing enterprise-wide risk management strategies. It is for this reason, therefore, that the Bank, like other world-class central banks, decided to position itself, in this fast-changing financial landscape, by incorporating risk management in its operations.
3 I set out our ambitions for the Fintech Hub in my speech “Open to Fintech”, available at https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/speech/2018/dave-ramsden-speech-hmts-international-fintech-conference. 4 See https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cryptoassets-taskforce 5 See https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/2018/november/boe-boc-mas-joint-report-digital-transformation-in-cross-border-payments 1  2  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  2  financial services might evolve over the next decade as part of the Bank’s Future of Finance project6; and analysing everything from the potential role of BigTechs in financial services to the implications of Open Banking and PSD2. But instead of looking back, I want to stay faithful to the spirit of today’s session and look forward to the contributions the Bank can make to the future of finance. Fintech is one of the Bank’s seven strategic priorities for 2019. In particular I’ll discuss three key areas of Fintech Hub focus in 2019: payments; unbundling; and artificial intelligence.7  Payments The first area I’ll focus on is payments. While the Bank is not nearly as old as the Guildhall, this year we are celebrating 325 years as the UK’s central bank; that includes 325 years of providing foundational payments services. Payments have become increasingly digital in recent years, and there are now hundreds of alternative payment methods8 available; recent years have seen a significant diversification of payment companies with new entrants to the market, such as e-money institutions and technology companies – which is why the subject is of interest to the Fintech Hub.