supply side responses and to launch a campaign to disseminate information about the records they hold in a way that will whet the appetite of potential scholars. 23. as i said earlier, we have just concluded the platinum jubilee celebrations of the reserve bank. the celebrations generated a variety of memorabilia captured in documents, photographs, video clips and films. i would urge the management of the archives to collect all this material, screen it, categorize it and preserve it. i am sure it will have both historic and nostalgic value besides being, i hope, a guide for the future governor as the reserve bank celebrates its centenary in 2035. 24. as jeremy irons, the british actor, once said “ we all have our time machines. some take us back, they ’ re called memories. some take us forward, they ’ re called dreams. ” the rbi archives museum that we are inaugurating today will, i hope, be an effective time machine as we in the reserve bank and all our stakeholders, grapple with our memories of the past and our dreams for the future. 25. the rbi archives, as an institution, has earned a well deserved reputation for the integrity of its contents, for the management of the records and for the professionalism of its staff. the museum that is being inaugurated today is yet another initiative in their continuing pursuit of excellence. i want to compliment the principal of the college of agricultural banking, ms. kamala rajan, the chief archivist shri ashok kapoor and the staff of the archives for the good work they are doing and wish them all the best in furthering the objectives of the archives.

the equation. central banks can reduce payment - related risks very effectively. by establishing security and confidence, they contribute decisively to the efficiency of the payment system. today, money changes hands mainly via transfers or direct debits, with payments being booked directly to the commercial banks ’ accounts at the central bank. settling in electronic central bank money is equivalent to settling in cash ; it is final and irrevocable. this approach reduces credit risk and inspires confidence – both in the payment system and in money itself. on the slide, this is the third phase : the transition from private promises to pay to central bank money – in other words, to today ’ s banknotes and the electronic sight deposits that commercial banks hold with their central bank. rtgs systems – a milestone in the evolution of cashless payments let us now turn to switzerland. for many years, the postal cheque service of swiss post was at the heart of the cashless payment system. this area only began to become attractive for banks as well from the middle of the 20th century. around this time, so - called ‘ bank clearing ’ – switzerland ’ s first interbank payment system – came into existence. this was an important step in the development of the cashless payment system. however, the predominantly manual nature of the system made it cumbersome. it could take up to four days to execute a payment, making efficient liquidity management virtually impossible for the participating banks. furthermore, in the ‘ bank clearing ’ system, payments were settled on a net basis. in other words, incoming and outgoing payments were offset against each other, with only the net difference being transferred between banks at the end of the settlement period. in order to facilitate banks ’ liquidity management, the snb allowed them to temporarily overdraw their accounts before the end of the settlement period. this delayed settlement created credit risk for the snb. these shortcomings prompted banks to seek new solutions. in 1987, a new payment system known as ‘ swiss interbank clearing ’ ( or sic, for short ), entered service. in sic, payments in swiss francs are settled between banks in real time and on a gross basis. this type of arrangement is referred to as rtgs. each payment is settled individually via the sight deposit accounts at the central bank, provided that sufficient funds are available on these accounts. page 4 / 9 the advent of rtgs systems was a major milestone in the quest for efficient and secure cashless payments. it