of 2013. from an investment viewpoint, gold is important for a good diversification of the currency reserves. historically, gold often moves in an opposite direction to other assets. in contrast to equities or bonds, however, gold does not yield interest or dividends. and as the recent months have shown, gold is also among the most volatile and therefore most risky investments, with a noteworthy example occurring in april, when the gold price fell by about 15 % in less than a week. last december, the snb announced it would be opening a branch office in singapore. this will enable us to more efficiently manage our foreign currency investments, which have risen sharply, to expand our market coverage in asia, and to position ourselves closer to key market participants. singapore is one of the most significant trading centres for bonds in asia. at the same time, the branch office in singapore will facilitate the enforcement of the minimum exchange rate. it will open in july, with a staff of seven. the singapore office will concern itself only with trading ; settlement will continue to take place in zurich. the branch office is completely subordinate to existing snb oversight and control. swiss franc money market and reference interest rates the continuing high level of swiss franc liquidity has had the desired effect of keeping money market interest rates at close to zero. the three - month libor has been at around two basis points since mid - january. interest rate expectations, based on libor future contracts, are also close to zero for the foreseeable future, but not negative, as was the case over much of last year. as a result of the very low money market interest rates and high liquidity in the banking sector, money market turnover has dropped substantially in recent years. this is illustrated in chart 2, which shows the total of banks ’ sight deposits at the snb, as well as turnover in the area of secured and unsecured call money. the small number of transactions on the money market is a problem for generating representative reference interest rates. in addition, the selection and setting of reference interest rates has come under the scrutiny of market participants and the public, as a consequence of the libor manipulation. as regards the problems surrounding the libor, efforts at reform are underway on an international level. to ensure the continuation of the libor, a raft of measures have already been initiated. these include both an improved regulatory framework for the libor fixing, as well as enforced oversight by the relevant authorities. the aim

thomas jordan : the challenges of the global economic crisis – can switzerland master them? summary of a speech by mr thomas jordan, vice - chairman of the governing board of the swiss national bank, on the occasion of a panel discussion at the central bank of the republic of austria, vienna, 1 february 2011. the complete speech can be found in german on the swiss national bank ’ s website. * * * many countries are facing major economic challenges as a result of the financial and economic crisis. which of these are of particular importance for switzerland? and how can we tackle them? switzerland is currently facing three key challenges. first, the crisis has shown that countries can encounter serious difficulties due to systemically important banks. switzerland has two systemically important banks, in fact, these big banks are systemically important even at the global level. thus for our country, in particular, it is essential that the stability of the financial system be sustainably reinforced. second, the crisis has substantially changed the economic environment in which switzerland – an economy with an extremely global orientation – operates. on the one hand, our country has to cope with the appreciation of the swiss franc, particularly against the euro, which has come under pressure because of the sovereign debt crisis affecting certain european countries. on the other hand, the crisis has reinforced the shift in economic power towards the emerging economies. consequently, switzerland must do everything it can to secure its competitive position in this changing world – now and in the future. third, convincing answers will be needed to counter the international pressure on switzerland, which has increased considerably of late, particularly in connection with the question of the tax compliance of foreign assets in switzerland. these are formidable challenges. however, switzerland is well equipped to meet them with confidence. what is essential is that we are able to benefit from the strengths that characterise the country now as in the past. these success factors include ( a ) a social and political culture that builds on inclusiveness and the ability to reach a consensus, ( b ) innovative ability and flexibility, and ( c ) political and economic stability. bis central bankers ’ speeches