news conference berne, 12 december 2019 fritz zurbrugg introductory remarks by fritz zurbrugg in my remarks today, i will begin with the current assessment of the situation at the big banks and domestically focused banks. i will then go on to discuss the significance of climate change for financial stability. the final part of my speech will focus on the issuance of the new banknote series, which was completed in september. big banks i will start with the situation at the big banks. both credit suisse and ubs have made significant progress since the ‘ too big to fail ’ regulations were introduced almost ten years ago. they have strengthened their capital bases, reduced their risk positions and implemented key organisational measures as regards crisis management.. with respect to resilience, credit suisse and ubs have already achieved their targets. both banks have increased their regulatory capital to the target levels and thus meet all final requirements on a consolidated basis. compliance with the requirements of the ‘ too big to fail ’ regulations is necessary to ensure adequate resilience of the two swiss big banks. this is confirmed by our loss potential analyses of both banks as well as historical loss experience during the last financial crisis. with respect to resolution, the statutory deadline for finalising the swiss emergency plans is the end of this year. in their plans, credit suisse and ubs have to demonstrate that they would be able to maintain their systemically important functions without interruption in a crisis. finma, as the competent authority, is currently checking whether the submitted plans meet this requirement. as for the overall assessment of the ‘ too big to fail ’ regulations, the snb shares the federal council ’ s view that the swiss regulatory approach is consistent with international page 1 / 4 berne, 12 december 2019 fritz zurbrugg news conference developments and that no fundamental change to this approach is necessary. 1 at the same time, the snb also shares the view that there is a need for selective adjustments. this applies in particular to funding in resolution, which is aimed at ensuring that the big banks have sufficient liquidity reserves in a crisis. to this end, together with finma and the snb, the federal department of finance is reviewing whether current liquidity requirements for the two big banks are sufficient to cover estimated funding needs in the event of a crisis, or whether regulatory adjustments are necessary. domestically focused banks i shall now turn to the domestically focused banks. there has been little change in their situation since the financial

addressed by my colleague thomas jordan. climate change can pose longer - term risks to financial stability. there are primarily two ways in which climate risks can affect the financial system. one is through the increase in the frequency and severity of natural disasters with all their consequences, and the other is through changes to climate policy and to the corresponding regulations. it is the responsibility of individual financial system participants to fully understand climate risks relevant to them and to correctly assess the potential consequences from a business perspective – just as with other risks. for its part, the snb is focusing on how climate risks could impact on the stability of the swiss banking system as a whole, as well as on systemically important financial market infrastructures. currently, the snb considers the likelihood of risks linked to climate change threatening the stability of the banking system as a whole to be low. in the case of financial market infrastructures, climate risks are minimised, for example, by stipulating that technical facilities be distributed over different locations. the significance of climate risks to financial stability may change over time. the snb therefore considers it a priority to continuously monitor developments and review its assessment. completion of the ninth banknote series to finish, let me turn to a very different topic – the issuance of the ninth banknote series. the development of the new banknotes was a complex, long - term project with exacting design and production requirements. the 100 - franc note, which entered circulation on 12 september 2019, was the sixth and final denomination of the snb ’ s new banknote series. since the issuance of the first of the new banknotes, the 50 - franc note in april 2016, feedback on the new banknotes has been very positive. the new series has been well received by the public. the new substrate durasafe® has also proven a success. preliminary evaluations suggest that this substrate should ensure a longer lifespan for the banknotes. the issuance of modern and forgery - proof banknotes is a central task of the snb. it is important to us that we are able to meet the expectations of the swiss population. the new banknotes use state - of - the - art technology, and are robust and easy to handle. the entire logistical processes, including the modification of atms to accommodate the new notes, also proceeded without significant problems. the eighth banknote series will continue to be legal tender until further notice. the snb plans to announce the recall date for