scams has exposed consumers to increasingly sophisticated fraud schemes that can be difficult to detect and prevent. this is why individual firms must be proactive, ensuring they incorporate security by design when developing new payment solutions. innovation is required to keep pace with criminal elements seeking to disrupt the payments ecosystem, thereby undermining public trust in the broader financial system. the fight against fraud is not limited to any individual firm - the entire ecosystem, including both financial and non - financial stakeholders, must work together to meet the challenge of evolving fraud techniques and typologies. this is why – at the central bank - we have been engaging with a number of large tech firms since the start of the year, including google, encouraging them to do more to ensure they are not facilitating consumer harm. i am pleased that progress has been made in this regard and welcome google's announcement last week that they will introduce a verification process for financial services advertisers. an effective financial services verification policy is a key disruptive tool in the fight against online financial scams. for that reason, in particular, i want to welcome the establishment of the anti - fraud forum under the strategy. this forum will seek to enhance the formal cooperation between the financial sector, telecoms, and social media companies, whose networks and platforms are often utilised to propagate fraudulent activity. let me conclude. as minister chambers outlined, the overarching objective of the national payments strategy is to build and enhance public trust in the payment system, by ensuring that it works in the best interests of all consumers and businesses. ultimately, the success of the national payments strategy will be largely determined by the organisations in attendance today, and the degree to which we all engage in and support this multi - year programme of work. the department of finance has set out the roadmap for the future of the irish payments ecosystem, and it is now up to us, as a collective, to put our words into action. i would like to thank you all again for attending the event today. we have arranged a small reception which i hope some of you will be able to stay to attend. 2 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches thank you. 3 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches

5 percentage points, and the swiss franc has appreciated significantly since mid - 2021. this tightening of monetary conditions was necessary to bring inflation back within the price stability range. inflation has been below 2 % again since june this year. at 1. 4 % in november it was even lower than we had expected in september. inflation is likely to increase again somewhat in the coming months. nevertheless, underlying inflationary pressure has continued to decrease slightly compared with september, and our conditional inflation forecast is now within the price stability range over the entire forecast horizon for the first time in some time. we have decided today to leave the snb policy rate unchanged. at the same time, we are no longer focusing on foreign currency sales. this reflects that monetary conditions are currently appropriate. page 3 / 6 berne, 14 december 2023 thomas jordan, martin schlegel and thomas moser news conference however, uncertainty about the development of inflation going forward remains high. on the one hand, there are still upside risks, although these have abated somewhat of late. for example, there could still be second - round effects in many domestic goods and services. on the other hand, there are also downside risks with regard to inflation. it could, for example, decrease more strongly than expected in the wake of the economic slowdown. at present, our assessment is that the upside and downside risks for inflation are approximately balanced. against this backdrop, we will monitor the ongoing development of inflation closely. if necessary we will adjust our monetary policy and in this context we are also prepared to be active in the foreign exchange market. our goal remains to keep inflation within the range consistent with price stability on a sustainable basis over the medium term. ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attention. i will now hand over to martin schlegel. ensuring the supply and distribution of cash i would like to inform you today about the snb ’ s current efforts in the area of cash. according to our payment methods survey, more than 95 % of the population would like to retain the option of using cash as a means of payment in the future. consumers want to be able to choose whether to pay with cash or electronic payment methods. it is true that this freedom of choice is largely a given nowadays. however it is not to be taken for granted, especially when less and less is paid for with cash. in order to retain cash as a payment method in the future, it must remain readily accessible, e.