This brings me to the factors contributing to the persistent current account surplus in Switzerland. Factors contributing to the persistent current account surplus in Switzerland Switzerland’s current account surplus, reported in accordance with international standards, is driven by special factors. First, our current account surplus or savings surplus is overstated due to statistical distortions. Second, structural factors are in play that tend to contribute to a savings surplus. One of these is demographics, which have a decisive impact on the high levels of household saving in Switzerland. 5  High current account deficits may occasionally lead to refinancing problems, so-called balance of payments crises. This speech does not address the financing side of current account deficits in any detail, but focuses solely on the current debate concerning exchange rate manipulation in connection with current account surpluses. Page 7/13  Then, third, we must consider the industrial structure of the Swiss economy, which means that the current account and the economy as a whole do not necessarily move in parallel when the exchange rate changes. In Switzerland, two industries are largely responsible for the trade surplus, namely pharmaceuticals and merchanting, the net exports of which are only slightly impacted by exchange rate movements. At the same time, these two industries are much more important for the development of the current account than for that of the economy as a whole. Let me now explain these three factors in more detail. Statistical distortions Statistical distortions in the current account lead to the surplus in Switzerland being overstated.

Moreover, it intends to allow already established companies or start-ups that aim to provide payment services to be involved in other business activities allowing them to diversify the business risk and freedom to grow. Open Banking – Benefits, challenges and risks Digital disruption is the driver that enables banks to keep pace with customer demands. By adopting the right digital business model, banks can take advantage of open banking to unleash new business value. Being an open bank means operating like a platform company, with a business model that connects people and processes with assets and a technology infrastructure to manage internal and external users’ interactions. Open banking—a platform-based business approach— is a new way of how banks generate value, born out of the increasing pressures from regulations and competitors. Outside the banking domain, industry leaders like Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Alibaba are unleashing technology’s power by developing platform-based business models and taking advantage of the strategies they enable. Since the beginning of 2018, sharing proprietary data with third parties is not an option for European banks, with PSD2 in the European Union. Investments are being made to make this a reality; almost $ billion was invested in PSD2 enabled services in 2016 (up to 200 percent from 2015)1. 2/5  BIS central bankers' speeches  In the core of Open banking are the application programming interfaces (APIs), which has also been used and facilitated by eBay starting in early 2000s, and also by technological giants like Google, Apple, Uber, and so on.