funds must be backed by capital as in the case of any other market and credit risks. it is, however, undisputable that, given the rapid developments in the hedge fund industry, activities must be monitored closely. system oversight in december, we reported on the situation with regard to the oversight of systemically important payment and securities settlement systems. in the meantime, the “ systemically important ” classifications of the interbank payment system swiss interbank clearing ( sic ), the securities settlement system secom, the central counterparty sis x - clear and the multi - currency payment system continuous linked settlement ( cls ) have become definitive, and the preparations for the oversight measures stipulated in the national bank ordinance are going ahead as scheduled. in particular, detailed guidelines were drawn up in order to examine whether or not the regulatory minimum requirements are complied with. with these guidelines, the different systems can be monitored consistently, while at the same time keeping the administrative effort of the operators at an acceptable level. business continuity planning ( bcp ) different experiences in the recent past – from the 9 / 11 terrorist attacks in the united states to minor local technical difficulties – suggest that measures to strengthen the operational resistance of the swiss financial sector must be taken. during the past year and a half, the snb has headed a sectoral working group in cooperation with the sfbc secretariat. the group consists of representatives from infrastructure providers, financial institutions and the authorities and has conducted an in - depth analysis of the business continuity plans of the major players in the financial markets. the business continuity planning ( bcp ) project focuses on precautionary measures to prevent the likelihood of disruptions. in addition, measures are taken to help cope as efficiently as possible with disruptions, once they have occurred. in its analysis, the working group focused on the two business processes which were considered to be especially critical for system stability and which must be maintained without fail even in exceptional circumstances. firstly, the supply of liquidity to the financial system with central bank money by means of repos and, secondly, large - value payment transactions between the commercial banks in swiss interbank clearing ( sic ). the analysis began with the following scenario : a severe disruption causing the failure of an important operational centre and incapacitating its staff. requirements were defined with regard to the maximum tolerable downtime before the resumption of normal operations. a distinction was made between critical and non - critical business processes, activities and participants. business processes were

thomas jordan : sound money – a fundamental pillar of our society speech by mr thomas jordan, chairman of the governing board of the swiss national bank, at the ustertag, uster, 23 november 2014. * * * the speaker would like to thank peter kuster for his support in preparing this speech. he is also indebted to patrick halbeisen, rita kobel, thomas moser and the snb language services. introduction it is a great honour for me to speak to you today from this lofty pulpit. admittedly, as a central banker i cannot contribute a great deal to your spiritual well - being. i will therefore limit myself to my true area of competence and talk about money. let me begin by explaining why i am particularly delighted to be addressing you today, as your guest speaker. as you know, the ustertag of 1830 was a major milestone on the long road towards the creation of the swiss federal state. just 18 years later, modern switzerland was born. and only two years after that, the swiss franc was introduced as the currency of the confederation – although, in the initial stages, the federal state had to be content with coinage sovereignty alone. not until 1907 did a central bank equipped with the exclusive right to issue banknotes begin operations. this was the swiss national bank ( snb ). so you see, important developments were set in motion by the ustertag, including changes that would affect our monetary system. or, expressed in a different way, without the countryside uprising in the name of liberal ideas, 184 years ago, we might not have the snb today. in my presentation, i will, for once, devote less attention to current monetary policy. instead, i will examine the swiss monetary system from a more long - term perspective. my aim is to show you the significance of sound money, and why it is a major pillar of our society. in this context, i will also take a critical look at four proposals to reform the monetary system. my reason for doing this is that interventions of this kind in an existing monetary order can have grave consequences for our country and the entire population. talking of reform proposals : in the “ uster memorial ” document there is a demand which particularly appeals to me as a central banker, that, in the case of property charges such as tithes, it should be possible to transform them easily into mortgage claims whose interest level is appropriate. appropriate interest rates or “ appropriate monetary conditions ”,