Several factors underpin why strengthening relations with African central banks is a high priority for the New York Fed at this time, as demonstrated by the range and seniority of our delegation. First, in the increasingly interconnected global economy and financial markets, the need to better appreciate dynamics in cross border flows of capital and goods has never been greater in order to better understand developments in one’s own economy. This is true in the U.S. as it is in all of your countries. As Africa has become an increasingly important contributor to global output, with some of the fastest growing economies in the world over the past two decades, a better shared grasp of the dynamics in both our economies is very much in all of our interests. Additionally, with the U.S. dollar serving as the world’s primary reserve currency, we at the Fed have a very natural and symbiotic relationship with many central banks around the world including those in Africa. This is the broader context behind our efforts to enhance our cooperation with African central banks, building on existing people-to-people exchanges exemplified by the long-standing participation of African central bankers in the New York Fed’s annual central bank seminar and specialized training courses, and other Federal Reserve cooperative training arrangements with African central banks on bank supervision topics. Participation in this gathering will hopefully only strengthen and deepen these relationships.
Thus, a key component of any efforts to enhancing financial education and protection must be improving individuals’ ability to ask the right questions and increase their awareness that ultimately they are responsible for their investment decisions. BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  “Conclusion” So, we’ve discussed how important consumer protection and education are. And we’ve covered the roles of each of the three groups in bringing about better protection and education. Let me now try to bring these strands all together. Something that became very clear in the wake of the financial crisis was that apparently low-probability risks at the margin of an industry can have profound impacts – and that a rules-based system alone is inadequate in guarding against them. After the crisis, there has been increasing recognition that each of us in fact operates in a financial eco-system – in some respects, a fragile system – in which the well-being of the whole rests on the health and actions of each part. Through suasion and regulation, financial regulators like the HKMA can do a lot to support consumers. But we will always be one step remote from the point of transaction. That’s why we look to banks and other financial institutions not just to follow our rules, but to show leadership by really engaging in this area. Institutions can do a lot, individually and together, to self- and peer-regulate and, above all, ensure integrity throughout their organisations, particularly at the consumer-facing levels.