increase in the breadth and coverage of formal finance has been less than adequate. deepening the financial system and widening its reach is crucial for both accelerating growth and for equitable distribution, given the present stage of development of our country. there has been a burst of entrepreneurship across the country, spanning rural, semi - urban and urban areas. this has to be nurtured and financed. it is only through growth of enterprises across all sizes that competition will be fostered. a small entrepreneur today will be a big entrepreneur tomorrow, and might well become a multinational enterprise eventually if given the comfort of financial support. but we also have to understand that there will be failures as well as successes. banks will therefore have to tone up their risk assessment and risk management capacities, and provide for these failures as part of their risk management. despite the risk, financing of first time entrepreneurs is a must for financial inclusion and growth. the parliament passed the credit information bureau act last year and the guidelines for its implementation will be released shortly. this should enable, over time, the availability of credit histories of both individuals and small businesses, which will help significantly in reducing transactions and information costs for banks. it will also help in spreading the credit culture among borrowers. it should help banks greatly in assessing and managing risk at low cost. as poverty levels decline and households have greater levels of discretionary incomes, they will be first time financial savers. they will, therefore, need to have easy access to formal financial systems to get into the banking habit. banks will need to innovate and devise newer methods of including such customers into their fold. the importance of'no - frills'account and expanding the range of identity documents that is acceptable to open an account without sacrificing objectivity of the process in this milieu can never be over - emphasised. banks will need to go to their customers, rather than the other way around. the micro - credit and the self help group movements are in their infancy but are gathering force. more innovation in the form of business facilitators and correspondents will be needed for banks to increase their outreach for banks to ensure financial inclusion. new entrants to the banking system need households at their doorstep. to conclude, i wish to stress that with increasing liberalisation and higher economic growth, the role of banking sector is poised to increase in the financing pattern of economic activities within the country. to meet the growing credit demand, the banks need to

news conference berne, 14 december 2017 thomas jordan introductory remarks by thomas jordan ladies and gentlemen it is a pleasure for me to welcome you to the swiss national bank ’ s news conference. i will begin by explaining our monetary policy decision and our assessment of the economic situation. i will then hand over to fritz zurbrugg, who will speak about current developments in the area of financial stability. after that, andrea maechler will review the situation on the financial markets and the progress in reference interest rate reform. finally, we will – as ever – be pleased to take your questions. monetary policy decision let me begin with our monetary policy decision and the inflation forecast. we are maintaining our expansionary monetary policy in order to stabilise price developments and support economic activity. interest on sight deposits at the snb is to remain at – 0. 75 % and the target range for the three - month libor is unchanged at between – 1. 25 % and – 0. 25 %. we will remain active in the foreign exchange market as necessary, while taking the overall currency situation into consideration. the swiss franc has depreciated in recent months. the overvaluation has thereby decreased, yet overall the franc remains highly valued. the depreciation of the franc reflects the fact that safe havens are currently less sought after. however, this development is still fragile. therefore, despite the easing of the situation, the negative interest rate and our willingness to intervene in the foreign exchange market as necessary remain essential. these measures keep the attractiveness of swiss franc investments low and thus ease pressure on the currency. a renewed appreciation would still be a threat to price and economic developments. the new conditional inflation forecast for the coming quarters is higher than it was in september. this is mainly due to increased oil prices and the further weakening of the swiss page 1 / 4 berne, 14 december 2017 thomas jordan news conference franc. the longer - term inflation forecast is virtually unchanged. for the current year, it has risen marginally to 0. 5 %, from 0. 4 % in the previous quarter. for 2018, we anticipate an inflation rate of 0. 7 %, compared to 0. 4 % in september. for 2019, we continue to expect inflation of 1. 1 %. the conditional inflation forecast is based on the assumption that the threemonth libor remains at – 0. 75 % over the entire forecast horizon. global economic outlook i would now