 Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to this press conference here on day one of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, DEVOS Clusters. As a fan of Africa, and as somebody who works at the forum, across all our African meetings over four years, I'm delighted to be moderating this session, which is about banking in Africa. We're going to be taking a closer look at Rwanda in particular, where there's been a bit of deal activity regarding building up the local market that are going to be here and all about that. But I'm also going to try to lean on my panel to give us a bit more insight into how the development of the market is across the region and the various trading blocks that are made up in Africa. I'm going to keep my remarks to an absolute minimum for your for your sex. I'm going to quickly pass on to my speakers. First of all, and I'll just introduce you before we start talking, Bob Diamond, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Atlas Merchant Capital, Claver Getete, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning of Rwanda, and Ashish Thakkar, Executive Chairman, Mara Sikoni, United Arab Emirates, and a young global leader here at the forum and also a member of our global agenda council on Africa. The backdrop to this press conference is an acquisition by Atlas Mara Limited, which is founded by Ashish and Bob, which has recently made acquisitions in Rwanda and is active throughout the region. Bob, over to you. Thank you. So there's a very fair question as we've made eight acquisitions in seven countries and two of those are eight acquisitions in six countries. Two of those acquisitions have been in Rwanda. We've now closed both. We had our team there just last week with the minister and the president. Rwanda is just a great environment to be doing financial services from. It's a key part of the East African community. The East African community is 250 million people. The minister and the president are very committed to a good business environment but even more committed to creating a business hub, a trading hub, a financial services hub in Kigali. All of the technology we're developing for our businesses in sub-Saharan Africa, which we hope to be 10 to 15 key countries, all the technology, our front office technology, our mobile phone technology is being developed within Kigali because of the access to just a fantastic labor force, very well educated. I think the cooperation between president Kagami and the other presidents in the East African community means that inter-East African community trade is growing significantly. The breakdown of the barriers to that trade, both in infrastructure and the ability of people to get around the region. So we're really delighted. We have 190 branches now in Rwanda with the two banks combined. We share very much the attitude of the government, including minister Ketete, toward financial inclusion and getting banking services to more and more people throughout Kigali. So all in all we couldn't be more delighted with the position that we have and the opportunity that this presents going forward to be a key part, not just of sub-Saharan Africa, but even more the East African community. Minister, thank you for all the help you've given us in making these two acquisitions, but also closing them quite quickly. Miss, you must be delighted to have won this investment. What are you doing to build up and develop the banking financial services market further in Rwanda? Yeah, thank you very much and thanks Bob for thanking me at the same time doing the investment yourself. We've had in Rwanda a long time trying to see how the private sector can help in terms of developing our economy and the financial sector is one of the key elements providing resources for the private sector, but it was never sufficient. In as much as we have more than 10 commercial banks, but they are small banks and we needed another big bank and we approached Ashish, we approached Bob Diamond, we said we needed an international bank to come and help in terms of developing the economy. They really heeded to our invitation. They came and bought one bank, it used to be a development bank, but then they took the commercial part of it. They combined it with another what you call Vipo's bank and now they have the second largest bank in the country and actually committing to making sure they can increase it further to see how it can play a role in Rwanda, but also in the region and we believe that it is achieving two objectives. One is on the commercial side financing the private sector, but also on the other side it is also contributing to poverty reduction because it reaches everyone and in every part of the country and this comes at the time when in Rwanda we have mastered almost for over 15 years the stability in the market. Yes, our own economic stability is well known, but at the same time we needed the financial stability and the financial stability has been persistent for almost 20 years. Where you find the capital adequacy ratio has always been above 24 percent in the last 10 years alone and non-performing loans as low as 6 percent and we've seen the liquidity ratio also being in check. They are well regulated, but at the same time we need a muscle, we need a big bank to make sure that you can reach as many people as possible and especially financing the big investments where we are attracting more of the business community to invest in Rwanda. We believe that the upcoming really is going to not only contribute to the development, but also attract other people once to invest in Rwanda and are looking for loans in Rwanda to make sure that they can also play their part. So we thank you both Ashish and Bob for your investment and now that you've finished one investment, big one, we are looking for 10 more. Thank you so much. Ashish, we talked about Rwanda. Would you care to give us a bit of an update on your operations, your vision for creating an African, a pan-African banking business? Sure, thank you. Thank you, Minister. When Bob and I started at Las Mara, we had a very clear vision, which is we wanted to do something different. We wanted to be a positive disruptive force in the markets that we operated in, but also we wanted to create the leading financial services institution on the continent. By leading we didn't mean the biggest, we mean the best. By really creating the world-class standards that are truly necessary and deserved in our countries. And as a result, as Bob mentioned, within the two years that we've been in existence, we have done eight acquisitions in six countries and two of which are in Rwanda. The bank size, as the minister has said, it's the second largest bank in terms of assets and the largest bank in the country in terms of branch network, which is extremely appealing and really kind of testifies how interesting and exciting this market truly is. It's a very personal thing for us as well. I mean, the Diamond Family Foundation has been doing work in Rwanda for a very long time. I personally was a refugee in Rwanda during the genocide and seeing the true transformation that the government has been able to conduct just truly shows you that this is a market that's really going to grow and has tremendous potential. I think the fact that the World Economic Forum in Africa this year is going to be taking place in Kigali is something that we're all extremely excited about as well. And as Atlas Mara, we expect to really do good and do well at the same time, which has always been a part of our vision and strategy. And we've actually put our technology R&D hub in Rwanda for Atlas Mara, which again further signifies our confidence in the leadership but also the potential in the market. Thanks, Ashish. And after the weather here this week, I'm very much looking forward to visiting Kigali next week in preparation for the World Economic Forum on Africa in May. Now, a good mix of journalists from the UK, some covering Africa, some international media. Who wants to ask the first question? Luke Saifil. Could you just wait for the microphone, please? So our audience online can hear the question. Experience in developed markets. And there's suggestions that banks in the west are going to become more like utilities. Do you think that's the case? And what does Africa offer someone like you in terms of your ambitions in banking? Well, in terms of my own ambitions, Philip, I think I've said this to you before and I think Ashish said it just earlier. But one of the things that we both love about Atlas Mara is it is the perfect intersection between doing good and doing well. When I get up in the morning and think about this business, I don't have to think about are we doing this for the good of this country or for the financial inclusion? Are we doing it for the shareholders? It is a publicly listed company. It's on the London Stock Exchange. We have an obligation to the shareholders. But the better we do, the more we're doing to drive jobs and economic growth. And I think that's the thing that really brings me back to your question about utilities versus more than utilities in banking. There's no example of an emerging economy becoming a successful developed economy without a robust, well-invested financial services. I think the ability to break away from the simplistic banking model that is so traditional in much of sub-Saharan Africa, which is deposit taking and buying of local T-bills, does very little to drive economic growth. But if we can force lending to small businesses, if we can get credit to consumers, if we can bring in the kinds of things that are available in other markets so that we can help the agricultural sector hedge currencies, hedge the prices of commodities. I mean, you can't have an environment more volatile than today around the currencies, oil prices, commodity prices, than to recognize how important it is to have hedging tools for small businesses and medium-sized businesses. And Ashish can tell you we're doing more. One of the areas that's been a big surprise to us is how quickly the SME and medium-sized businesses have come on stream. Just, I mean, we must get two emails a day now from the team about small businesses that are moving their entire banking relationships from their previous bank to Atlas Mara. And a lot of it is around the fact that we really are focused on lending, getting money into the economy, but also have the tools to help them hedge. Maybe if I can add on that one. Now that Africa is really waking up to participate in the global economy, we are seeing in the country, like Rwanda, the payment system is as modern as you could find anywhere in Europe, where they are using the same T-24, the flex tube, using data, the same modern system that you use. So that payment system has allowed us in East Africa actually to link the four countries, to link Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania in terms of this African payment system. Not only the payment system as such, but also the settlement. That means if you trade on the stock market in Rwanda, in Kenya and Uganda, then you can also do the cross-border settlement. Much easier. In Rwanda, we have a common platform. It's almost complete. Now using NASDAQ platform, so that the trading now, the settlement takes two days, now it's going to take one day to show how the system now works. And now they are also coming in at the time when mobile payments is really catching up in the whole entire region, where you see an ordinary person, a farmer, an ordinary person in the rural area is actually relying on the telephone to move any payments of any kind, depending on what you are paying. Whether it is cities, fertilizers, whether it's paying for your electricity, whether it's paying for water, they are using the telephone. And they are coming in to make sure that actually they can leverage on that, where we have the same ATMs, the same POS that you could find anywhere. And now with mobile, so that there is a proper interoperability that it can reach every Rwandan. And that means that with Rwanda also being linked up in terms of technology, it also links up with the entire region in terms of trade, which firstly says trade in the country, but also trade within the African community region. I can just quickly add to this, just to build on Bob's and the minister's point, I've been, as Mara, as Mara group, we've been on the receiving side of financial services for many years before we set up Atlas Mara. And there was a huge gap that we weren't being served by banks. The global banks were too focused on the multinationals and the large players. The local banks were, the traditional banking model on the continent has been taking in customers' deposits, putting it into government treasury, making 1,000 to 1,200 basis points spreads. I mean, why do you need to lend to businesses? And as Atlas Mara, our whole thesis has been that we want to be a real bank for business in the true sense. And hence, serving SMEs in the real sense has been a big passion and vision of ours. In Zambia recently, we just did something extremely innovative on the agriculture side, where we started lending money to farmers in a securitized way, but in a very practical way that gives them gross route access to the finance necessary for them to grow. And this is what we expect to do across the board, across Atlas Mara. Being a real bank for business, I think, is what's lacking on our continent, which is going to truly transform entrepreneurship as a whole. Ladies and gentlemen, please wait for the microphone. If you could give us your name and your... Sajata Rao with Reuters. I have a question for you, Bob. Your views on Africa, your positive attitude on Africa differs, and it's in contrast to what's going on, the gloom and doom in global markets, especially on emerging markets. And what would you say to those people who say the whole story of Africa rising over the past decade is all about commodities in China? That's my first question. And the second question is with all the problems that we are seeing on global markets these days, what is it that people like you would like to see policy makers doing to... How worrying is all this? So, the first one on Africa, we have absolutely no concerns that the underpinnings of Africa rising, if I can use that shorthand, are reversing. It's more about demographics than it is about oil. Frankly, it's more about agriculture than it is about oil. The number one industry in Nigeria is not oil. It's agriculture. It's over 20 percent of the economy. Over half of the non-farmed arable land in the world is in Sub-Saharan Africa. So will Sub-Saharan Africa, will Rwanda, will Nigeria be immune from the headwinds coming from the commodity markets and from China? Absolutely not. And some will be impacted more than others. Rwanda is benefiting in many ways from less expensive oil, for example. And Nigeria is an oil exporter, so it's going to have a different impact on each of those countries. But you look at the growth rates in Sub-Saharan Africa, even Rwanda is seven to eight percent over the next few years, but even the economies that have slipped to four or five percent, that looks pretty good versus many of the developed economy. So this challenging environment will impact Sub-Saharan Africa. Some of it will be very positive in terms of forcing some of the governance changes that are going on. Some of it will be very positive in terms of encouraging the kind of things that Atlas Mara is doing in investing. But if you asked Ashish and I, do we want to invest more or less in the medium to long term? There's no question we want to invest more. This is a great opportunity for us. Second question was just kind of the global markets. Everyone's kind of, so again, shorthand and I apologize for it. Is it like a bear market and we're all in trouble or is it a correction? You know, if those are the two extremes, I very much believe it's a correction. I think China has been a big part of it and I don't know any serious person that thinks China is not going to be a critical part of a global economy over the medium to long term. It's had 20 years of explosive growth and it has to have a slowdown. At the peak of the economy, 48 percent of the GNP was coming from investment spending. That's absolutely unsustainable. Japan at the peak was 30 percent. The U.S. today is 15 percent. So we need a slowdown. And the question is how are they managing that slowdown? And I think there's been some challenges in terms of open market policies and things like that, that they're going to have to learn and adjust to. But I don't think they're materially different than the kind of challenges that face any large economy when they face a correction like this. But are we very positive on China in the medium to long term? Absolutely. Is this a really serious correction? Absolutely. But I so believe that it's not only China. What happened is the global also affecting African countries, including ours. Where the minerals, for example, are affected, it is sending us a message that we have to do more value addition. Where oil prices are going down, it's saying that actually we also need to add value. And also we need to diversify, as we are doing in the case of Rwanda. Yes, the minerals have come down, but we are doing something about it. In other areas, tea has gone up. Non-traditional crops have also increased significantly. And we are looking at also diversifying so that you don't rely on one commodity and also not exporting it in the raw form. So we have done it already in the past, because most of our exports used to go to Europe. But when there was the debt crisis in Europe, we had to make sure that we look for new markets for exports from Middle East and other areas so that we can be able to really have a more diversified export products. Give credit to the minister and the incredible team in Kigali and Rwanda. When you look at the IMF, the stuff that comes out from Milken, some of the good analysis of economic growth, the only country in the world that was both looking back and looking forward in the top ten economies in the world is Rwanda. It was one of the top ten growth economies in the world in the last ten years, and in all of those studies it's expected to be in the top ten going forward. Do you know how challenging that is? Like usually the way to get there is to have a bad previous decade and then your economic growth is up. But to be in both of those categories, Rwanda is the only country. Very impressive. Well I think it is very tough, but actually just to highlight, from 1995 to 2014, our average growth rate was 9.8 percent. Now it's around between 7 and 8 percent, and we are under pressure to make sure that we bring it up to our digits. And the poverty levels have also come down from 78 percent, also to 39 percent, but the extreme poverty has come as low as 16.3 percent. And this is showing that it's not just on a growth but it's having an impact on the people's lives. I'll take one more question. Let's try to do two, we've got five minutes left, so okay. Let's go through it. Jill, maybe you could give us your question first and we'll take the gentleman over there. Jill Trino from the Guardian. Bob, I wondered if I could ask you to reflect on your departure from Barclays and what your thoughts are now that the dust has settled. Thanks. Okay, good, that was the reflection. I'm looking forward. I did my reflection. I'm looking forward. Okay, we'll keep you to the Rwanda. Our reflection didn't last very long. I have a question on South Africa. What's the impact of the economic development in South Africa to the eastern African region? Yeah, thank you very much. The impact of, I would say, the decline in the economic activities in South Africa is affecting more the countries in the Sadiq. That's where the South Africa is integrated and also other countries where the trade volume is quite significant. In the case of Rwanda, the trade volume is not very, very significant and we don't see really any impact on our economies. Yes, we've opened up. We are attracting more South African investors to come to Rwanda. They don't need a visa to come to Rwanda, by the way. It's free. It's among the countries that don't need any visa. And we are trying, we are looking forward to a new relationship, but we don't have the volume of trade that affects our own economy. We're trying to sneak in our last question here from Jasmine White. Can you give us your name, please? Where you're from? Thanks, this is Paul Britz from Deutsche Welle. And my question goes to Ashish. Refugees in the refugee crisis are one of the overarching themes of the WIF this year. And you said earlier you were back on the refugee in Rwanda. Now, from what I've seen, I imagine you've got as a refugee much more pressing issues at hand in the situation, but from your personal reflection, what do you think financial access to financial services, maybe, you know, mobile services or any other, how can that help your situation as a refugee? It's an interesting question, obviously, in the case of Rwanda, naturally, you know, everybody did turn their back towards us, which made it even worse. But in general, I think with today's time and the technology available, I think that does help in so many different ways. As long as the inclusion factor is actually considered in those areas, like going to refugee camps through the United Nations Foundation's Global Entrepreneurs Council, we're actually going to be trying to look at these areas and seeing how we can get access to data and mobiles to a lot of the refugees in terms of at least clusters to give them the access to information to see how they can best serve themselves in terms of going forward. Because once they come out of that situation, that doesn't solve it. It's then how you make them sustainable going forward thereafter is equally important. So thinking about things post the situation as it stands today is equally important than just looking at it as today's situation. Migration, of course, is a key topic of this meeting, which is going to be discussed in many sessions. We have run out of time. I do apologize. Maybe sometimes I grab people as they leave. We have Swiss style timekeeping to to observe this this meeting, like all our meetings. Just like to thank our panel and thank you all for joining us and thank you also to our audience watching online.