jean - pierre roth : monetary independence and monetary stability two sides of the same coin luncheon address by mr jean - pierre roth, chairman of the governing board of the swiss national bank, to the febraban brazilian federation of banks, sao paulo, 18 november 2004. * * * ladies and gentlemen it ’ s a real pleasure to be with you today. as you may know, our two countries have a long history of mutually beneficial relationships, going back as far as the 16th century. as very often in long - standing relationships, the first steps were quite difficult. in 1557, protestant emigrants from calvinist geneva tried to found a “ new geneva ” close to today ’ s rio de janeiro. unfortunately, their obedience to the protestant church was not considered as an asset at the time, and they had to leave the country rather precipitately. but hard work is a swiss characteristic, and business relations between brazil and switzerland developed intensively in the 19th and 20th centuries. in 1907, diplomatic representatives were sent to berne and rio. as a matter of fact, the enormous potential of brazil has been attracting swiss firms from every sector of our economy. nestle and jacobs - suchard were among the first to cross the atlantic in the 20s of the last century, but the chemical industry with ciba, geigy, sandoz and hoffmann la roche rapidly followed in the 30s. after the second world war, the machine - tool industry with brown - bovery, schindler and sulzer, to name only the most famous, joined the swiss club, followed later on by swiss banks. today, more than 250 swiss corporations are active in brazil, which has become the top recipient of swiss direct investment in latin america and the fifth - largest worldwide. despite differences in the structure of our economies - or maybe precisely because of them corporate switzerland is very engaged in brazil and has shared, for almost a century now, some of the fortunes and misfortunes affecting the brazilian economy. after a long period of pegged exchange rates, brazil recently decided to float its currency, to follow a monetary policy primarily focused on price stability and to reform its public finances. this new economic program seems to bear fruit, as growth has clearly resumed. however, the road to price stability is not an easy one. inflation, although extremely low in comparison to the four - digit period of the late 80s, is not yet subdued, and the state of government finances is still subject to legitimate worries

fritz zurbrugg : the financial crisis in its sixth year – an end in sight? speech by mr fritz zurbrugg, member of the governing board of the swiss national bank, at the money market event, zurich, 21 march 2013. the complete speech can be found in german on the swiss national bank ’ s website ( http : / / www. snb. ch / en ) * * * in this, the sixth year of the financial crisis, the situation on the financial markets has eased considerably. is what we're seeing the prospect of an end to the crisis, or is this just a flash in the pan? measures by central banks made a major contribution to stabilising the financial sector. this sector, however, is just a part of the whole, and while its stability is a precondition for sustained global economic growth, it is by no means a guarantee. the positive mood in the financial markets and leading economic indicators raise hopes that a recovery is underway. if these hopes are to be realised, however, structural reforms need to be implemented. the three most significant challenges for the global economy are increasing the resilience of the financial sector, improving the flexibility of labour and goods markets ( especially in europe ), and consolidating the public finances of the advanced economies. progress has been made in all three areas. the way ahead, however, is still both long and difficult. due to the relatively lengthy period of weak growth, there is considerable danger that reform fatigue might spread in those countries most severely affected. it is therefore that much more important that the reforms are well - planned and credible, and that they are implemented consistently, but also prudently. there is also the threat that pressure will build on central banks to compensate a failure to reform with monetary policy measures. central banks can and must resist this pressure, in order that they can continue to focus on ensuring price stability. governments, on the other hand, should embrace this deep crisis as an opportunity to implement urgently needed structural reforms. only then will we be able to say, with certainty, that the end of the financial crisis is in sight. bis central bankers ’ speeches