identified in the december 2005 review remain and some of them have increased. global imbalances have continued to grow. moreover, it cannot be excluded that tightening liquidity conditions in the g3 economies could yet expose vulnerabilities in the pricing of assets following a protracted period of hunt for yield in a low interest rate environment. particularly at risk are leveraged investors, especially hedge funds, and this could accentuate the risks of disorderly market corrections. finally, there are some signs of a maturing of the global corporate sector credit cycle and this has the potential to generate tensions in global financial markets, especially credit derivatives. 3. global macro - financial environment let me now illustrate the analysis behind our assessment in more detail, starting with the global macro - financial environment where the ever - expanding current account and financial imbalances and the high oil prices continue to feature as prominent sources of risk. the chart on the left draws your attention to the scale of global financial imbalances and to the fact that the united states remains the largest debtor country. however, there have been changes in the relative importance of global creditor countries. indeed, the aggregate contribution of the asian economies to financing the us deficit has broadly stabilised while the oil producing countries have surpassed them in importance. there have been concerns about the sustainability of global current account positions over the past six months as the cyclical support for the us dollar has been gradually waning. in this context, i would like to draw your attention to box 1 of the review that contains an overview of the recent debate on this topic. oil prices have been volatile and they have surged further since november last year, against a background of persistently strong demand and renewed geopolitical tensions. financial stability risks arising from developments in commodity markets operate largely through indirect, or macroeconomic, channels as high and volatile oil prices can pose risks to economic activity and inflation and, thereby, contribute to financial sector stress. speculative activity that has occasionally been blamed for fuelling the momentum in oil prices seems to have played again some role in driving the recent price developments ( as shown in the chart on the right on slide 4 ). a comparison of the relative movements between oil prices and the net futures commitments of non - commercials – that is, entities not engaged in oil producing or refining – on the new york mercantile exchange suggests the existence of a positive correlation. in the global fixed income markets, it is apparent that the protracted period of low long - term interest rates

next - generation sic payment system the thoroughly redesigned sic payment system known as “ sic4 ” came on stream in april 2016. based on cutting - edge, forward - looking technology, this new system reinforces the principles of security, reliability and high performance that have proved their worth for more than 30 years. it is particularly crucial for switzerland ’ s finance industry that transactions can be effected with the highest possible levels of security. the snb therefore welcomes the fact that the former security infrastructure for accessing the sic system has been overhauled and that a tailor - made security solution will be used from now on. a large proportion of cashless payment transactions in swiss francs is settled via the sic system. in 2015, sic settled a daily average of approximately 1. 7 million transactions worth chf 154 billion, including both client and interbank payments in swiss francs. moreover, sic is an important system through which the snb implements its monetary policy. we therefore have a keen interest in the ongoing development of the sic system to ensure that it is able to meet changing technical and professional requirements. bis central bankers ’ speeches bis central bankers ’ speeches bis central bankers ’ speeches