The currency rebasing shall be implemented effective 1 January 2013, and is expected to bring efficiency in the Zambian currency as a medium of exchange and store of value. As you may be aware, the Bank is re-introducing coins which will encourage the use of mechanisms such as pay phones, vending machines, car parking meters and other related technologies. Mr. Chairperson, According to the Finscope Zambia survey conducted in 2009 only 33,7% of Zambian adults have access to financial services, leaving 66,3% financially excluded. This is despite the growth in the number of banks and indeed branches in Zambia. It is obvious that at the current growth rate of the penetration of banking services, if this is left to traditional banks alone, it may mean that the majority of Zambians will be financially excluded for a long time to come. Ladies and Gentlemen, given the above challenge, it is quite appropriate to conclude that the mobile payments industry provides Zambia with a unique opportunity to accelerate the provision of banking services in rural and remote areas at an affordable cost to the Zambian people. To this extent I am happy to inform you that since the enactment of the National Payments Systems Act of 2007, when we only had one designated Payments Business, which was Celpay, the Bank of Zambia has now registered 28 Designated Payments Businesses. The Bank continues to encourage growth of the mobile payments sector and other initiatives that promote financial inclusiveness.
Mark Carney: Crossing the threshold to recovery Speech by Mr Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England and Chairman of the Financial Stability Board, at a business lunch hosted by the CBI East Midlands, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce and the Institute of Directors, Nottingham, 28 August 2013. *  *  *  Introduction I’m delighted to be in the East Midlands today to deliver my first speech as Governor of the Bank of England. With leaders in retail, manufacturing, engineering, logistics, information services, biosciences and education, Nottingham and the East Midlands are integral to the success of the UK economy. The businesses here will make good on the promise of recovery in our economy. So I’m very pleased to have the opportunity to listen to business people in this region. In my years in central banking, I have found that there is no substitute for hearing directly from those who deliver economic growth. What I hear from businesses here and elsewhere is that a renewed recovery is taking hold amid a rising tide of optimism. The signs are that this recovery is broad based and set to continue. This is welcome and should be encouraged. Over the past five years, a pervasive sense of uncertainty has held the economy back. The British people have been through the virtual collapse of the financial system, the worst recession in living memory, large job losses, falls in real wages and a, at times harrowing, crisis in the euro area, our most important trading partner.