##atin also convinced congress to pass the law of 1801, which required an annual report by the secretary of the treasury to the president. he submitted the first of these reports later that year. moreover, the minting of dollars was somewhat scaled back under gallatin. to compensate, he allowed foreign coins to circulate along with the dollar. these measures were not taken because gallatin was opposed to the mint. rather, the mint proved to be very costly for the federal purse. therefore, gallatin saw the reduction of its operations as a way for the government to save money, in line with his primary objective of fiscal consolidation. 17 for gallatin, a reduction of the united states ’ federal debt burden “ was the end toward which all other fiscal policy was designed. ” 18 he argued forcefully that the federal government should spend tax revenues on new public services, goods or investment only when tax revenues were freed from having to service a large public debt stock. 19 gallatin ’ s cautious management and reduction of the public debt during his first years in office was crucial. it gave the united states treasury the necessary credibility to access financial markets and therefore finance extraordinary expenses. the most prominent example, of course, is gallatin ’ s arrangement to finance the louisiana purchase in 1803. he quickly managed to raise the necessary amount – nearly usd 15 million – through a bond issue arranged by the british merchant bank barings. 20 with hindsight, some scholars have questioned whether public debt reduction should be the main fiscal policy objective of an emerging country with high growth potential. 21 but, given gallatin ’ s debt reduction objective, his efforts were extraordinarily successful. by 1808, gallatin had managed to reduce the federal debt - to - gdp ratio by an estimated 50 percent or so, including the additional debt from the louisiana purchase. 22 this was a remarkable effort balinky, op. cit., provides a detailed description of the tax structure of the early united states and its changes under gallatin. see balinky op. cit., pp. 101 - 103, for an account of the united states mint under gallatin. quoted from balinky, op. cit., p. 39. this is not to suggest that gallatin was opposed to government - sponsored infrastructure projects. indeed, in 1808, he presented the gallatin report on roads and canals. as he put it at the time, the vision of roads and canals to link up the young nation “

particular, the desired stance of monetary policy. the negative interest rate on sight deposits that commercial banks hold at the snb is the main instrument with which the snb implements monetary policy on the money market. the exemption thresholds allow the burden on the banking system to be reduced without jeopardising the snb ’ s ability to keep secured short - term money market rates, in particular saron, close to its policy rate. as you can see, the snb has the instruments needed to steer money market interest rates, including during times when these interest rates are in negative territory. however, a wellfunctioning money market requires not only that the central bank possess a set of effective instruments. it also requires a sound infrastructure on which financial market participants – the snb included – may conduct their trades in a reliable, efficient and transparent manner. thus, as we arrive at the end of this talk, let us say a few words about the money market infrastructure in switzerland. the role of a sound money market infrastructure to function smoothly, the money market requires a sound and efficient infrastructure. as we have argued, the money market is important for implementing monetary policy, for redistributing liquidity between banks, and for determining reference rates ; it is clearly one of the cornerstones of the swiss financial system. it is therefore vital that the associated market infrastructure is secure and robust. this has been the case for more than 20 years thanks to the highly efficient swiss money market value chain. this system seamlessly covers the entire life cycle of secured transactions, i. e., the whole value chain from trading to settlement, both on the cash side and on the collateral side. the swiss money market value chain, which is a joint enterprise of swiss financial institutions, is operated by six group, and the snb has been involved in shaping its development since its inception. the design of the swiss money market value chain is unique internationally and has proved its worth. a key characteristic of the swiss money market value chain is that it provides access to about 150 banks and other financial market participants using a single platform and a common set of rules. another characteristic is that the snb has direct access to this platform, through which it also conducts its monetary policy operations. the broad array of participants, the high degree of standardisation, and the fact that interbank trades and snb monetary policy operations in the money market are conducted on the same platform help foster market liquidity, transparency and trust among participants