ipumbu shiimi : national payment system vision 2015 launch speech by mr ipumbu shiimi, governor of the bank of namibia, at the launch of the national payment system vision 2015, windhoek, 5 april 2011. * * * director of ceremonies mr. ian leyenaar, representing mr. erastus hoveka the president of bankers association of namibia, dr. gift kavari chairperson of the payments association of namibia members of the banking industry members of the media distinguished invited guests, ladies and gentlemen good morning it is with great pleasure to welcome you all here today to witness the launch of the national payment system ( nps ) vision 2015 for namibia. let me first use this opportunity to thank the banking industry for their respective contributions in the process of finalizing the vision document. without your input we would not have achieved this milestone. much has been achieved since the development of the first nps vision and strategy in the year 2000, and although i do not want to detail these achievements, there are a few major milestones which are worth highlighting : the first major milestone was reached on 10 june 2002, when the namibia inter - bank settlement system ( niss ) was implemented, enabling banks to settle their obligations with each other immediately, the so - called real time gross settlement system ( rtgs ). the second milestone was reached with the promulgation of the payment system management act in december 2003. the act provides the bank with the mandate to oversee and monitor the payment system ; the third major milestone was reached during 2004 – 2005 with the establishment of the automated clearing house, namclear, which localised the clearing and processing of the electronic funds transfer system ( eft ) and cheque processing system ; the payment association of namibia ( pan ) was established in 2005 to manage the affairs of its members in relation to payment instructions, but also to act as a medium of communication with the different stakeholders, namely the bank, public bodies, the media and even the general public. finally, perhaps one of the most important achievements in the nps recently was the establishment of namibian card switch, namswitch in november 2008, enabling the clearing and settlement of namibian card transactions locally. director of ceremonies the payment system is dynamic and new demands and opportunities arise as a result of market requirements and technological developments. therefore, new challenges are facing the nps, hence a new strategic direction is required. it is against this background that the bank in collaboration with the banking industry has

niklaus blattner : review of the swiss economy introductory remarks by prof dr niklaus blattner, member of the governing board of the swiss national bank, at the end - of - year media news conference, zurich, 13 december 2002. * * * in conducting monetary policy, the swiss national bank ( snb ) must be able to rely on a healthy banking system. we can consider only efficient and solvent banks as counterparties. monetary policy can only be implemented effectively in a system made up of such banks. furthermore, only efficient and solvent banks ( including the non - bank postfinance and the infrastructures for the settlement of payments and securities ) can maintain efficient and secure payment transactions. the current bill for a comprehensive revision of the national bank law took this realisation into account. overseeing the payment and securities settlement system is only one of the central bank functions spelled out in the law. what is new, in particular, is the explicit requirement that the national bank shall contribute to the stability of the financial system. by taking organisational measures, we already created better preconditions for fulfilling the expanded mandate in 2001. the law and the organisation are moving in the direction taken by other central banks worldwide ever since they have increasingly identified the stability of the financial system as a necessary precondition for pursuing an effective monetary policy. in accordance with the revised law, our close cooperation with the swiss federal banking commission ( sfbc ) will be further expanded. the responsibilities will remain clearly delineated, however. the sfbc is mainly responsible for the supervision of banks and institutions, while the national bank is entrusted with overseeing payment and securities settlement systems and promoting the stability of the financial system. our activity in this area focuses on analysing the structures, the behaviour and the results in the swiss banking system. up until now, the national bank was known primarily for its banking statistics. furthermore, it frequently conducted and published banking surveys. we are now increasingly turning our attention to the analysis of topical issues, including a periodic analysis of the situation in the financial system. in so doing, we concentrate on those aspects which are relevant for assessing system stability. for this reason, banks are the main focus. developments in the insurance world jeopardise system stability only indirectly at the most, e. g. in the case of a financial conglomerate. the situation in the swiss banking sector the swiss banking sector found itself in a hostile environment in the past few months. there was a slowdown