In fact, on 10 July, 2009, I was privileged to participate at the “Foundation Stone Laying” ceremony for the multi-billion Stanbic Bank Zambia Limited new Head Office building. I therefore, commend the bank for its relentless effort in trying to modernise its facilities and expand its network. Allow me to conclude by appealing to all banks and other financial institutions to explore ways of enhancing the efficiency in service delivery. By enhancing efficiency, banks will be capable of offering more affordable banking services. This has the potential of drawing a larger number of Zambians to the financial system resulting in an expanded banking clientele for the benefit of both the banks and the economy. This will go a long way in complementing the Government and the Bank of Zambia’s efforts in addressing the various weaknesses in the financial sector as well as to guide efforts for realising the vision of a stable, sound and market based financial system that would support the efficient mobilisation and allocation of resources necessary for economic diversification and sustainable growth. In the recent past, the Government has adopted prudent fiscal policies that enabled the private sector to access more credit from the financial system. In line with this, the yields on Government securities have drastically reduced with the 91 days Treasury bill rate dropping to 7.88% in the latest auction while inflation has also trended downwards to 12.3% in October. Some players have responded positively to these market movements by reducing their lending base rates.
And it means making climate considerations an important part of social contracts between financial institutions and the communities that they serve – where financial institutions refocus on the role society needs them to play. That is, helping households and businesses cope with the physical and transition risks of climate change by providing financing and risk protection that will meet their needs. Allow me to elaborate further on the above. The current drive towards digitalisation of financial services presents an immense opportunity for financial institutions to contribute further to the climate change agenda. From a business operations perspective, while financial institutions explore newer applications of technology for cost optimisation and efficiency gains, integration of technology within the value chain may complement the industry’s own carbon footprint reduction measures. For example, Accenture 4estimates that migrations to the public cloud could reduce global carbon emissions by 59 million tons of CO2 per year. From a growth perspective, innovative design of digital financial services can mobilise financial consumers in support of the climate change agenda. In 2017, the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative5 reported that a major financial institution’s digital finance platform prevented 150,000 tons of carbon emissions in just nine months by influencing its users to adopt and record more environmentally friendly behaviours, for example by walking instead of driving. The financial sector, at its core, has a role to facilitate the allocation and deployment of economic resources.