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On
behalf of Institute of Bankers in Malawi, I feel honored to welcome you all to
the 4th Bankers Annual Conference here in Mangochi, Malawi. In a special way
let me welcome our colleagues that have come from South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Madam Morris, feel welcome and I believe that you will enjoy your time in Malawi.
A special appreciation goes to the Reserve Bank of Malawi Governor for being
with us every year since we started the conference four years ago.
Let
me congratulate you Mr. Governor for the economic stability that the country is
experiencing and the easing of inflation to single digit now at 9.3 percent
from 37.90 percent in 2013. Consumers in Malawi have all reasons to smile and
have money in the pocket with a great buying power, with the country running
its affairs without full donor support, as well as recovering from the flooding
tragedy which had hit the country in the past four years.
Our
Guest of Honour, Governor and delegates: the financial industry recognizes the
vital role in fostering and promoting financial inclusion. We believe that the
efforts of the government to promote financial inclusion and deepening can be
further enhanced by pro-activeness on the part of capital market including the
financial institutions and at the same time we realize that the issue of
financial inclusion is a development agenda. Among social-economic factors as
expected, income is positively associated with the level of financial inclusion.
Further, physical and electronic connectivity and information availability, indicated
by road network, telephone and internet usage also play positive role in
enhancing financial inclusion. Therefore, the need to scale up financial
inclusion is now perhaps more important as a complementary and incremental
approach to work towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals than any other
time in history. We really need to achieve synergies amongst all key
stakeholders to expand our reach.
We
believe that the presence of financial institutions in areas and regions measures
the opportunity for financial inclusion. Literacy is the prerequisite for
creating investment awareness and hence intuitively it seems to be a key tool
for financial inclusion. But financial literacy alone cannot guarantee high
level of financial inclusion. In other words, it is not possible to achieve
financial inclusion only by creating investment awareness without significantly
improving the investment opportunities in Malawi. Hence we go back to our theme
that synergies are important if we are to reach acceptable levels of financial
inclusion.
On the part of banking
industry, much effort has also been directed to promoting greater financial
inclusion as an enabler of equal opportunity. The most recent innovations include
the related models of e-banking, branchless banking, and agency banking to
overcome the barriers of distance and the high cost of setting up traditional
bank branches in remote areas. The establishment of National Switch Limited
cannot be over emphasized as this has helped to compliment the financial
inclusion agenda and I am proud to report that all banks are fully integrated
to the switch. If this is not commitment to financial inclusion, then what is
it? We have different countries visiting Malawi to learn and understand the
model and implementation of our switch.
Over the past three
years, we have seen that the interest rate has gone down and now the average
interest rate is at 24.72 percent. We know that a lot needs to be done but this
is an achievement especially when we look back to where we are coming from.
On
the social front, the banks have programs that support programs that deliver
sustainable outcomes by partnering with relevant stakeholders in areas such as
health, education, community development, environment, sports and others. We believe that this is
a duty every corporate citizen has to perform so as to maintain a balance
between the economy and the ecosystems. This
area is mostly ignored by many reports but banks have touched and transformed a
lot of people through giving.
On capacity building,
we continue to train our officials knowing that the banking industry is
continually evolving and we need to be current in all what we do.
Having said this our
Guest of Honour, Governor and distinguished delegates: banking industry has its
own challenges:
The
banking sector is the single most targeted area by hackers and fraudsters for
obvious reasons. Cyberattacks on key financial infrastructure could leave banks
vulnerable to significant financial, regulatory, and reputational risk.
Regulation:
Although many banks have become more risk aware and are adapting well to
increasingly stringent requirements, regulation continues to be a concern for
banks who must invest a sizeable amount of time, effort, and money into meeting
compliance standards. Being in business, we are here to tackle each and every
challenge on our way professionally.
We
therefore cannot forget that Customer service has become so vital and
significant to consider especially in the financial business sector. As banks
continue to provide an increasing number of financial services and products, we
will endeavor to deliver the highest level of customer service and convenience.
Governor,
Guest of Honour, my duty this morning is to welcome you all and I wish the
delegates a fruitful meeting.
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