There is much goodness in new banks. Let?s have more of them. Competition is at the heart of good governance. A new bank forces us all to re-examine our credentials, our levels of service, our standards, our performance in this highly competitive and unforgiving world. I heard recently of a case where someone wanted to open a new account with a large sum of money ? one established bank proposed one week to complete the procedures to do so while a new bank, just a couple of yards up the road, did it on the spot within five minutes. Such is the nature of the market ? continued renewal. An upstart can take on a giant ... and win...

The confidence of the customer has to be won, retained and constantly refreshed. Quality of service is key, as are financial strength, good corporate governance, customer-friendly practices and trust. I am confident that this bank, now under a new name, new ownership and new management, will lead to a fresh flowering of innovation and quality in all these areas.

As the banking sector literally explodes, driven by new players and relentless financial innovation, the central bank, which is here to oversee and regulate, cannot remain static in the way it is organised and discharges its responsibilities. We at the Bank of Mauritius must rise to the challenge. My colleagues and I, we must be prepared to leave our comfort zone. We must question our rules, our regulations, our practices, our processes, indeed ourselves. That is the price to pay to achieve our ambition of graduating to the status of a well-regarded international financial centre. That is a price we are prepared to pay. The ambition drives our action. But, as always, some want the end but would deny us the means to achieve it. There are pockets of resistance which are building up steam in an overheated and misguided attempt to cling to the past and derail us from this shared national vision. I have also taken up the challenge of promoting Mauritius as an internationally friendly financial centre. As we must, we are refreshing our core services to confront the new challenges and to tap the new opportunities that beckon. But change-management is never easy. Change-management is post-doctoral studies, often conducted under withering and concentrated fire by kamikaze supporters. Doing good by doing better is what ultimately drives these supporters and myself, not any suicidal instinct to commit collective hara-kiri.

Mr Bruno Julie, whose feat in the boxing ring in Beijing we now celebrate as a nation, well demonstrates the spirit of achievement and the determination which we need to galvanize us. With his bronze medal, Bruno Julie has got tiny Mauritius a coveted place in the Hall of Fame among the giants of the global sports world. But his incomparable performance led me to a wry reflection which I would like to share with you. On a distinctly less celebratory note, the Bank of Mauritius and the South East Asian Bank which we bury tonight, have a common in-house culture of anonymous letters. If poison-pen letters and anonymous tracts were also, like fields and track events, an Olympic discipline, the Bank of Mauritius would have won a gold medal a long time ago!

Well, before the current avalanche of sleaze allegations and malpractices targeting my person. It pains me to see the time and resources spent by some disgruntled staff in tarring management. But I must say that I often admire the fertile imagination and creative instincts behind some of these concerted attacks...

Extracts from an address by Rundheersing Bheenick, Governor of the Bank of Mauritius, on the occasion of the Re-branding of South East Asian Bank Ltd as Bramer Banking Corporation Ltd.