with the inevitable changes. scenarios also help to connect strategies and action plans to our visions. using scenarios will essentially widen our perspectives, increase our understanding of the issues and developments. it also allows us to see opportunities that we may otherwise miss. new developments emerging would be seen from different angles and perspectives. the framework thus promotes a greater awareness and appreciation of the wider range of issues and will allow the potential to see things earlier and thereby respond to them more promptly. thus, embedding scenario analysis and planning in our organizational activities is aimed at enhancing the potential for the organization to successfully maximize its position in a rapidly changing and highly uncertain environment. ladies and gentlemen, this seminar is part of iclif's skills building and knowledge sharing initiatives. our ultimate aim is to create a critical mass of high calibre leaders who can bring their organizations from good to great. dr. robert bood and mr. ronald bradfield, the two domain experts who have been conducting scenario thinking and planning programme for iclif, will shed more light on these areas in the course of the seminar. we hope you will benefit from the session, i wish you a productive and successful seminar. thank you.

rtgs systems. for example, retail payments are increasingly being settled via rtgs systems ( something which for a long time was unique to switzerland ), longer operating times are being introduced and settlement times are being shortened. these are major international trends, and we in switzerland will have to think about how we wish to position ourselves. there is also the question of how to integrate the new players – the fintechs – into the payments infrastructure. in the next slide, the payments ecosystem in our two - tier financial system is presented in a simplified form. on the first level, via the rtgs ( blue field ), the central bank enables financial institutions to settle payments using secure systems and electronic central bank money. on the second level ( green field ), the financial institutions enable retail payments. when it comes to integrating new players, there are currently two models : first, indirect access via the banks. this ‘ open access ’ approach, shown on the left - hand side of the slide under ‘ model 1 ’ ( client – > fintech – > bank ), is the one adopted by the eu. the new payment services directive ( psd2 ) requires eu banks to grant fintechs access to bank accounts. the second option involves granting fintechs direct access to core payment systems. this ‘ direct access ’ approach is shown on the right - hand side of the slide under ‘ model 2 ’ ( fintech – > rtgs ). switzerland has chosen this approach. as the snb announced at the beginning of this year, it will grant fintech companies access to the sic system and to snb sight deposit accounts, provided they have a fintech licence and their business model makes them significant participants in the area of payment transactions. the advantage of the direct access model is that it also allows retail payments made using page 7 / 9 payment solutions from new providers to be settled efficiently and securely in central bank money. this change creates a level playing field within the sic system for existing and new providers – ensuring that the swiss franc payment system remains efficient, secure and futureproof. the third challenge concerns the possible application of dlt to payment transactions. switzerland, in particular, has witnessed the establishment of a fintech ecosystem in recent years, and we are a leading fintech hub. for central banks, dlt raises at least two fundamental questions. first, could it end up replacing current core infrastructure, such as rtgs? various central banks have been experimenting with this idea, in close