have taken advantage of them, any more than they would accept giving up medical secrecy because of a few cases of health insurance fraud. nor could the swiss understand - or accept - that the foreign clients of our banks be treated any differently, i. e. without the same amount of due trust and respect. but - and this is important - banking secrecy is not absolute. it is simply not true that swiss banks maintain secret numbered accounts whose holders are not known to anyone. swiss banks do hold socalled numbered accounts, but a restricted circle of persons within the bank must - by law - know the name of the person ( s ), i. e. the beneficial owner ( s ) behind every account. in this regard, the “ know your customer rule ” is once again essential. banking secrecy is routinely lifted in the case of criminal investigations and the swiss judicial authorities have earned high marks for the extent of their cooperation in international criminal affairs, including those involving politically exposed persons. these facts do not mean that our country is especially attractive for criminal money. they rather show that bank secrecy rules are not an obstacle to an efficient and determined action against criminal activities. let us be frank : the fact that some financial centres only rarely or even never register cases of suspicious transactions is certainly not a proof of integrity but rather of a lack of it. conclusion today, we find many financial centres around the globe. they all benefit from easier communication and high capital mobility. some have a long history of banking activities, others have recently expanded, often by giving foreign investors special legal or fiscal treatment. with its customers from all over the world, switzerland is as much an offshore centre as london or any other significant financial centre. we do not provide special advantages to foreign investors. our financial centre has been built on a wide range of comparative advantages : a financially sound country, a stable political and monetary framework, a long tradition of banking and an internationally oriented economy. all these points are also valid for the united kingdom. there is a major difference in terms of specialization, however : the city is “ the ” market place for investment banking and a number of other financial activities in europe, whereas switzerland plays a dominant role in asset management. despite different realities and market positions, switzerland and the united kingdom share many common values vis - a - vis their financial centre : – both countries believe that financial activity requires professionalism, high standards and efficient supervision ; – both countries consider money laundering and the financing of criminal activity as major threats for

jean - pierre roth : the challenges of an international financial centre : the swiss case speech by mr jean - pierre roth, chairman of the governing board of the swiss national bank, to the british - swiss chamber of commerce, london, 26 february 2002. * * * it gives me great pleasure to have the opportunity to address your distinguished assembly today. like all the swiss i know, i always enjoy coming to london. even though there are considerable differences between our two countries, we have many things in common. we are both proud of our history and of our colourful traditions, we cherish our freedom and our independence. what ’ s more, in both our countries, the financial industry has been a pillar of our economic strength in recent times. but these days, the most striking parallelism between the united kingdom and switzerland can be seen in monetary affairs. both countries are “ outs ” : they do not belong to the euro - zone. in britain, the currency is still the pound sterling and, in switzerland, we still have a preference for our franc. we thus both face the same challenge : living next to a large currency area which absorbs most of our foreign trade. this situation is new for both of us. it is of course not up to the swiss central bank governor to speculate how long this situation will last in the united kingdom. but as far as i can tell, there is a good chance that switzerland will remain an island in the middle of the euro - ocean for years to come! experience shows, however, that the monetary regime itself is not a central issue for the existence and the development of a financial centre. neither in the uk, nor in switzerland is european monetary integration considered to be a necessary or a sufficient condition for a successful financial centre. in today ’ s global and very competitive markets, success relies more than ever on fundamental strengths and skills. switzerland as a financial centre since the early 1990s, international financial markets, along with the entire banking sector, have been undergoing profound changes. the driving force behind this world - wide trend is threefold : first, the advances made in the processing and the transmission of information ; second, the trend towards the liberalisation of financial markets ; and, third, the growing and increasingly diversified demand for financial services. these developments have led to a widening of horizons, to a proliferation of financial products, and to increasing international competition. switzerland - thanks to its long tradition of openness to the world - was well prepared to face the