niklaus blattner : it in the financial sector - aspects of regulation and supervision summary of a speech by mr niklaus blattner, vice - chairman of the governing board of the swiss national bank, at 8. berner tagung fur informationssicherheit ( 8th conference on information security ), berne, 29 november 2005. the complete speech can be found in german on the swiss national bank ’ s website ( www. snb. ch ). * * * the completeness, integrity, traceability and constant availability of data that has been securely processed are essential in order for the financial system to function smoothly. the swiss federal banking commission ( sfbc ) supervises banks and securities dealers domiciled in switzerland. its microprudential supervision focuses on the individual financial institution, in particular with regard to the protection of creditors and investors. by contrast, it is the task of the swiss national bank ( snb ) to contribute to the stability of the financial system, i. e. it is engaged in macroprudential oversight. banking legislation provisions governing the it organisation requirements of a financial intermediary do not explicitly address the topic of information security, but rather focus on the notion of “ proper and rightful conduct of business ”. for the sfbc, information security is merely one concern among others. in one of its circulars it has, however, addressed several critical areas in greater detail, e. g. on the topic of external data management and outsourcing. the snb ’ s mandate is limited to the payment and securities settlement systems. in its oversight function, the snb focuses on systems which might constitute a potential threat to the stability of the swiss financial system. the snb ’ s objectives with regard to information security include the following : security policy and organisation, physical and staff security, system operation, system development and maintenance, communication and information exchange and – last but not least – business continuity management. similar to the sfbc, the snb basically pursues a dualistic approach, i. e. it relies primarily on the results of internal and external audits. any supplemental, cross - system measures must be jointly coordinated and synchronised by all the major players. the steering group “ business continuity planning ” ( bcp ), headed by the snb, assumes this function and examined the business continuity plans developed in the individual companies. the report reveals that a great deal of progress has been made with regard to the bc

alan bollard : new zealand ’ s potential growth rate address by dr alan bollard, governor of the reserve bank of new zealand, to the new zealand canterbury employers ’ chamber of commerce, christchurch, 28 january 2005. * 1. * * new zealand ’ s growth performance has improved what a difference a decade makes. if we look at new zealand ’ s economic growth over the last decade, and compare it with the previous decade, we see that there has been a large lift in the country ’ s growth rate. average growth over the earlier decade, 1984 - 1994, was 1. 5 % per annum, while over the last decade it has averaged 3. 4 %. clearly, there were difficulties in the 1980s as firms struggled to come to grips with the new economic environment : exports subsidies were gone, government trading entities were corporatised and some privatised, there was a move towards user pays for government services, and various markets were deregulated. then there were the other factors. these included the sharemarket crash of 1987, which was to have large flow on effects, especially for some local property sector firms. another factor was the international recession of the early 1990s. neither has the last decade been all plain sailing. we had the asian crisis of 1997 - 98, but fortunately this did not last long. the economy was also affected around this time by droughts. then in late 2000 and early 2001 we saw the onset of a major slowdown in the us following a sharp fall in the value of high tech shares. nevertheless, the new zealand economy did more than simply survive these difficulties ; over the decade it had a much improved growth performance. two broad factors appear to have been influencing growth over the last ten years : • the economic reforms of the 1980s and early 1990s have resulted in a more competitive environment for the private sector. also, since the early 1990s we have had a more decentralised approach to wage setting in the private sector, which has given firms more flexibility in how they operate. • reforms in the government sector have resulted in more stable macroeconomic policies. the reserve bank act was passed in 1989 ; price stability was achieved by 1992, and has been maintained since then. we have also seen fiscal stability since the early 1990s, reinforced by the passing of the fiscal responsibility act. we have seen a more medium term approach to planning and undertaking government expenditure, without the volatility associated with attempts to “ pump prime ” the economy. our growth