environment began to present a perceptibly brighter picture, turnover also picked up. this, together with the more confident investor sentiment, reduced volatility. the ambitious profit expectations now reflected in share prices suggest that market players are optimistic about the economic situation and the corporate environment. to sum up, the financial markets are currently influenced by a complex interplay of factors : a globally synchronised economic recovery is taking place against a backdrop of external imbalances. an autonomous economic recovery outside of the us - underpinned, not least of all, by supply - side reforms - would help substantially to redress these imbalances. key features of the snb ’ s future investment and risk control process the snb ’ s investment activity is subordinated to monetary policy and is determined by the criteria of liquidity, risk and returns. the new national bank law will extend the snb ’ s investment opportunities. the current national bank law ( nbl ) limits eligible investments to gold and fixed - interest securities, and eligible borrowers to states, international organisations and banks. article 9 of the new nbl defines a wider scope of possible transactions. this allows the national bank to further optimise the structure of its investments with a view to specific central bank needs. as part of this process, we are also evaluating the possibility of enlarging the investment universe. however, such an extension would raise a number of fundamental questions that will first need to be examined. before the new law enters into force, we will establish and publish investment policy directives setting out how the governing board plans to make use of the extended investment policy scope. while our assets have already been managed largely in conformity with the principles of modern asset management, improvements were nevertheless called for. it was essential to bring our internal investment and risk control processes into line with the new legal framework. the opportunities for diversification brought about by additional investment instruments would, in principle, reduce the market risk of the investments. at the same time, though, the snb would incur new risks, e. g. additional credit risks. in addition, corporate governance is to be enhanced. the primary goal is to segregate powers as far as possible : firstly between monetary policy and investment policy operations, secondly between investment strategy and its implementation through asset management, and thirdly between risk taking and risk controlling. there are limits to the principle of segregation of powers insofar as the governing board is responsible both for monetary policy and investment

policy. let me briefly outline our concept regarding the new investment process : • the bank council approves the principles laid down for risk policy and the investment process. • the governing board decides each year on the investment strategy based on the aforementioned criteria of liquidity, risk and returns. • the organisational unit asset management, which is part of department iii, is responsible for the market - oriented implementation of this investment strategy. an investment committee chaired by the head of asset management makes the strategic investment decisions and sets the targets for each portfolio manager. • a well - tested risk control process ensures that risk taking at the different levels is duly supervised. responsibilities and competencies are clearly assigned at all levels of the investment process. performance at the different levels is assessed through the consistent use of benchmarks and the corresponding measurement techniques. the process described above is applied to the management not only of the international reserves but also of the proceeds from the sale of gold no longer needed for monetary policy purposes. how the gold reserves deemed “ free ” at the time are finally used will be a political decision. managing these assets is not part of the snb ’ s statutory mandate. thanks to the new nbl and the snb ’ s internal know - how, however, the bank is well qualified to perform this task.