. q – is the currency crisis in emerging countries a concern right now? a – the international environment was the main engine of growth that we have had in recent years, so of course we are very attentive to developments in asia and latin america and emerging markets in general. we had positive surprises in developed economies like the us or the uk. so we had a much greater support to growth in developed economies. from the point of view of growth, for now, the slowdown in emerging markets is being offset by higher economic growth in developed countries. q – what can we expect from the asset quality review and the new round of stress tests? a – for us it is a very important issue. the crisis was very severe because our institutions were too weak to deal with it and there were many imbalances. it is a difficult exercise in operational terms, it is a lot of work, it is crucial and will require much effort and commitment from the entire system. all supervisors, even if they sometimes complain about the operational burden – it takes a lot of time – are, i think, very committed, because everyone realises that this is a milestone on the road to recovery : do it well and recover credibility. from the point of view of the market, there is always something of a paradox : that confidence has returned before the exercise is complete, because the signal that went out that we would deal with the problems was very positive. some say that this exercise can be bad for growth because banks will deleverage faster and all that, but what we see today is the opposite ; it is a contribution to the restoration of confidence in the banking system. if we look at the banking systems, portugal, for example, was, last year, in terms of recapitalisation and restructuring, important. the problem, not only in portugal, is the profitability of banks. in general, they have made great headway in terms of capitalisation, and we ’ ll see, with this exercise, if it is confirmed, because we analyse portfolios in great detail, but the question is about the profitability of the banking system in countries such as portugal. profitability is now the ultimate question. i think that recapitalisation in countries such as portugal was extremely convincing, but the sector must be profitable again. with the recovery and the gains in efficiency that we see it should be so again, but this will be a very important test for 2014 and the industry must go back

niklaus blattner : system stability and security of the systems summary of a speech by prof dr niklaus blattner, vice - chairman the governing board of the swiss national bank, at the luzerner tage fur informationssicherung ( lutis, conference on information security ), lucerne, 25 may 2004. the references for the speech can be found on the swiss national bank ’ s website. * * * the stability of the banking system and the security of the financial market infrastructure - including the stock exchanges and especially payment and securities settlement systems - have become an important concern of central banks all over the world in recent years. this has notably happened against the background of the numerous financial crises witnessed during the past decades. moreover, events such as 9 / 11 have heightened awareness for the security of the financial markets and other infrastructures. in switzerland, the growing importance of system stability has also been reflected in the new national bank act, which entered into force on 1 may 2004. within the framework of its principal mandate of pursuing a monetary policy in the interests of the country as a whole while at the same time ensuring price stability, the swiss national bank ( snb ) is legally obliged to make a contribution to system stability and to facilitate and secure the operation of cashless payment systems. in implementing its mandate, the snb takes preventive measures as well as measures aimed at overcoming crises. for instance, in a crisis the national bank plays an important role in providing liquidity. with the new act, the snb specifically bears the responsibility of overseeing the systemically important payment and securities settlement systems. the operators of such systems will in future have to meet certain minimum requirements, which will also include requirements with regard to information security. secure and reliable information and communications structures are an essential precondition for the smooth functioning of the financial system. in the context of its mandate, the snb limits itself to systems - relevant aspects in these areas. systems - irrelevant problems concerning individual banks or payment systems, by contrast, are explicitly not a part of its mandate. this is based on the conviction that the problems in the financial system must be solved by the market itself whenever possible.