news conference on new banknotes berne, 3 september 2019 thomas jordan introductory remarks by thomas jordan ladies and gentlemen i too welcome you warmly to this presentation of the new 100 - franc note. the issuance of this final note brings the ninth banknote series – an important and complex project – to a close. over the next few minutes i ’ d like to look back at some of our experiences, review the results and, finally, make a few observations about the future of cash. work on the new banknote series began over 14 years ago. on 2 february 2005, the snb published a press release announcing that it was preparing a new series inspired by the overarching theme ‘ switzerland open to the world ’. in november 2005, the results of the design competition were presented to the public, and at the beginning of 2007, the snb tasked manuela pfrunder with carrying out the graphic design work. this decision marked the beginning of a 10 - year adventure. the development of the new banknotes was shaped by stringent quality standards on both the design and production fronts. throughout the process, dialogue and exchange were required between all the involved parties to ensure that these standards were met. thanks to this team effort, the ninth series – culminating in the last denomination, the 100 - franc note – is now complete. an ambitious start … in 2005, we started with the ambition of creating a banknote series that was highly innovative across the board : - we wanted to achieve significant technological advances in terms of both materials and printing. - at the same time, we wanted to break new ground in the designs. we wished to move away from individual personalities or achievements and depict an overarching theme instead. page 1 / 4 berne, 3 september 2019 thomas jordan news conference on new banknotes - and finally, we wanted to reduce the size of the notes. this would make them fit more easily into people ’ s wallets, as well as rendering them more suitable for machine processing. - we did not, however, make any changes to the denominations and consciously retained the tried - and - trusted colour palette. … and the associated challenges this set of requirements pushed the limits of what was technologically possible. we at the snb and our partners had to jointly overcome a succession of challenges. the most important difference between the eighth and ninth banknote series is in the materials used. thanks to the new substrate durasafe, we were able to integrate new and complex

jean - pierre roth : the role of the international monetary fund in promoting financial stability - a swiss perspective speech by mr jean - pierre roth, chairman of the governing board of the swiss national bank, at a meeting with directors of the most important swiss firms in argentina, buenos aires, 16 november 2004. * 1. * * introduction i am delighted to be here in buenos aires to address such a distinguished audience, and i thank ambassador von muralt for organizing this event. for the next 20 minutes or so i would like to speak about the international monetary fund ’ s role in promoting international financial stability, and this from a swiss perspective. i know that talking about imf policy can be difficult here in argentina. however, the argentine case should not hamper our discussions. it should invite us to reflect on what the fund has achieved so far in promoting international financial stability and what its present challenges are. promoting and safeguarding international financial stability was part of the mandate of the imf in 1944, when the institution was established. it is still, in my mind, the core mandate of the imf today. there should be no doubt that a strong and resilient international financial system is crucial for global growth and prosperity. this is even more so the case after the structural changes of the last decade, in particular the worldwide information technology revolution that led to a strong increase in the size and sophistication of international capital markets. in a globalized world, it is even more imperative for the fund to focus on promoting stability as a global public commodity. we have enough experience to know how costly it can be if things go wrong. saying that switzerland treasures a stable international environment is in many respects an understatement. given the openness of our economy and the fact that we host an important financial centre, international financial stability for us has all the connotations of a vital national interest. to put things into the right perspective, allow me to mention a few figures that show how interconnected our economic well - being is with global developments. in 2003, swiss exports of goods and services amounted to 44 percent of gdp. the gdp contribution of our heavily internationally oriented financial sector reached 10 percent. this figure rises to 14 percent if we also include the insurance sector. swiss banks occupy a leading international position, particularly in the area of wealth management. the value of total assets managed in domestic banks as at the end of 2003 amounted to us $ 2. 7 trillion. according to various estimates,