it is expected that article 1 will be revised to recognize the validity of electronic signatures and electronic writings. another effort rapidly proceeding under the auspices of nccusl and the ali is a new ucc article on licenses which will govern not only traditional software contracts but any license of information ( for example, books, movies, databases ). in the process of addressing concerns unique to the information industry, the drafters have considered issues, such as electronic contracting, that every industry will likely need to consider. for example, the february 1998 draft of article 2b provides that a “ record ” cannot be denied legal effect solely on the grounds that it is electronic. article 2b also addresses the use of “ attribution procedures ” as a signature substitute in an electronic commerce environment. in this regard, article 2b, as currently drafted, largely mirrors the concept of commercially reasonable security procedures found in article 4a of the ucc governing funds transfers. article 2b does not, however, address some rather important aspects of electronic records namely, the admissibility of electronic records in legal proceedings and the use of electronic records to satisfy legal requirements that original documents be retained. regardless of whether article 2b ultimately addresses all of these issues, the adoption by all 50 states of article 2b is still a long way off. moreover, the principles stated in article 2b are restricted to the scope of article 2b. thus, even when article 2b is adopted, it will not affect a significant portion of electronic commerce. with that in mind, nccusl established a separate drafting committee to tackle electronic transaction issues generally in a new uniform electronic transaction act. the eta, although on a “ fast track ”, is still at a very early drafting stage. several important decisions, including the scope of the act, are still being debated. having said that, the act is expected to provide for the legal recognition of electronic signatures and records in most commercial transactions, and for the use of electronic records as evidence. in addition to the uniform state law efforts of nccusl / ali, there has been a proliferation of non - uniform united states state laws addressing electronic commerce that are generally referred to as “ digital signature ” or “ electronic signature ” laws. there are at least 43 states that have enacted, or are currently considering, electronic signature legislation. these state law initiatives vary considerably. for example, many states have limited the scope of their legislation to specific types of transactions ( for example, transactions with the state, medical records

reserves, excluding swaps, increased from chf 50 billion in 2008 to over chf 225 billion by the end of september 2011. in order to promote further diversification, in 2010 the snb added four new currencies to its reserves, namely australian and singapore dollars, danish krone and swedish krona. as a result, in addition to euros and these four currencies, the snb ’ s portfolio is now composed of 26 % us dollars, 9 % japanese yen, 5 % pounds sterling and 4 % canadian dollars. central banks generally have large holdings of government bonds due to their need for liquidity. as is widely known, in recent months the ratings agencies have been reviewing or have downgraded the credit ratings of many sovereign bonds. despite this turn of events, approximately 96 % of all our investments in fixed - income assets are rated aaa or aa. in closing, i would like to emphasise that we are actively exploring and monitoring new asset classes and currencies in developed and developing markets. the aim of this process is to continually reduce concentration risks and to further diversify the snb ’ s fx reserves. bis central bankers ’ speeches bis central bankers ’ speeches bis central bankers ’ speeches bis central bankers ’ speeches