thomas jordan : the rationale for discontinuing the minimum exchange rate and lowering interest rates introductory remarks by mr thomas jordan, chairman of the governing board of the swiss national bank, at the press conference of the swiss national bank, zurich, 15 january 2015. * * * ladies and gentlemen thank you for once again accepting our invitation to this press conference at such short notice. let me begin by explaining the rationale for discontinuing the minimum exchange rate and lowering interest rates. afterwards, i shall be happy to answer your questions. discontinuation of the minimum exchange rate the swiss national bank ( snb ) has decided to discontinue the minimum exchange rate of chf 1. 20 per euro with immediate effect and to cease foreign currency purchases associated with enforcing it. the minimum exchange rate was introduced during a period of exceptional overvaluation of the swiss franc and an extremely high level of uncertainty on the financial markets. this exceptional and temporary measure protected the swiss economy from serious harm. while the swiss franc is still high, the overvaluation has decreased as a whole since the introduction of the minimum exchange rate. the economy was able to take advantage of this phase to adjust to the new situation. recently, divergences between the monetary policies of the major currency areas have increased significantly – a trend that is likely to become even more pronounced. the euro has depreciated substantially against the us dollar and this, in turn, has caused the swiss franc to weaken against the us dollar. in these circumstances, the snb has concluded that enforcing and maintaining the minimum exchange rate for the swiss franc against the euro is no longer justified. interest rate lowered at the same time as discontinuing the minimum exchange rate, the snb will be lowering the interest rate for balances held on sight deposit accounts to – 0. 75 % from 22 january. the exemption thresholds remain unchanged. further lowering the interest rate makes swissfranc investments considerably less attractive and will mitigate the effects of the decision to discontinue the minimum exchange rate. the target range for the three - month libor is being lowered by 0. 5 percentage points to between – 1. 25 % and – 0. 25 %. outlook for inflation and the economy the inflation outlook for switzerland is low. in december we presented a conditional inflation forecast, which predicts inflation of – 0. 1 % for this year. since this forecast was published, the oil price has

paul fisher : the outlook for the uk economy speech by mr paul fisher, executive director for markets of the bank of england, to the cardiff breakfast club, cardiff, 24 may 2013. * * * introduction it ’ s nice to be back in cardiff again. as always, i will be taking the time while here to visit a number of local businesses in an effort to find out what is happening “ on the ground ” in the welsh economy. our network of agents across the uk provide the mpc with valuable intelligence on a continuous basis, but there ’ s nothing quite like hearing it at first hand for oneself. recent changes at the bank of england i ’ d like to start this morning by outlining some of the recent institutional changes at the bank of england, which will help shape the policy environment for a generation. first of all, supervision is back! the new prudential regulation authority, a subsidiary and therefore part of the bank of england, has moved into its new offices at 20 moorgate, just a two minute walk from the back of threadneedle street ( or faster on a cold morning! ) the move back to the bank will help us to exploit the synergies between microprudential supervision on the one hand and the markets, economics and financial stability expertise of the wider bank on the other. but most importantly this is an opportunity to change the way in which banks ( and building societies, credit unions, insurers and major investment companies ) are supervised. there will always be financial firms that fail through making bad judgements and taking risks which crystallise ; or because unforeseeable events crop up. we have to allow that to happen in an orderly manner and without the use of public money. but good supervision should make sure that financial firms are focussed on the big issues, are appropriately capitalised, sufficiently liquid and not excessively leveraged. the pra will focus on those institutions and issues which pose the greatest risk to the stability of the financial system. and their approach to supervision will be to make forward - looking judgements about the risks posed by firms, based on evidence and analysis ( and not constrained by a narrow interpretation of either domestic or eu rules ). second, the financial policy committee is now established with statutory powers. its primary objective is to identify, monitor and take action to remove or reduce systemic risks with a view to protecting and enhancing the stability of the uk financial system whilst having a secondary objective – like the mpc