fritz zurbrugg : swiss banks from a financial stability perspective introductory remarks by mr fritz zurbrugg, member of the governing board of the swiss national bank, at the media news conference of the swiss national bank, berne, 10 december 2015. * * * in my remarks, i will start with an analysis of the situation at the swiss banks from a financial stability perspective, looking at both the big banks and the domestically focused banks. i will then finish with some information on the new banknote series. big banks since the publication of our financial stability report in june, the two swiss big banks have improved their capital situation further. the improvement was especially pronounced at credit suisse, following a capital increase. the swiss national bank ( snb ) acknowledges the progress made by both big banks in this area. however, a further strengthening of the leverage ratio in particular is necessary. strengthening the leverage ratio – and hence resilience – will be achieved by means of the measures recently decided upon by the federal council as part of the revised ‘ too big to fail ’ regulations. the substantially increased leverage ratio requirements will put switzerland back among the international leaders in this regard. given that the ‘ too big to fail ’ issue is particularly pronounced in switzerland compared to other countries, these measures are, in our view, essential. the snb therefore welcomes the revision of the ‘ too big to fail ’ regulations as a crucial step in the overall process of resolving the ‘ too big to fail ’ issue in switzerland. it is very important for our country that a lasting solution be found. the snb will continue to play an active role in this endeavour and in the implementation of the approved measures. in the process of designing and calibrating the revised capital requirements, care was taken to retain the complementarity and interplay between risk - weighted requirements and leverage ratio requirements. risk - weighted requirements should guide economic decision - making, while the leverage ratio should serve as a backstop. the leverage ratio requirement thereby takes into account the fact that the models used for risk - weighting are not perfect and do not always capture all risks accurately. to ensure this complementarity is also retained in the future, the federal council has already factored in the expected reforms by the basel committee on banking supervision with regard to risk - weighted capital requirements. overall, these reforms are likely to result in an increase in risk - weighted assets and, hence, to a balance between the leverage ratio and risk - weighted requirements

jean - pierre roth : the current economic and monetary policy situation summary of a speech by mr jean - pierre roth, chairman of the governing board of the swiss national bank and chairman of the board of directors of the bank for international settlements, at the centro di studi bancari, vezia, 17 september 2007. the complete speech can be found in french on the swiss national banka€™s website ( www. snb. ch ). * * * it is difficult to determine to what extent the turmoil in the us sub - prime mortgage market impacts on the real economy. it has hit switzerland at a time when our economy is in enviably good shape. should the situation in the financial markets not deteriorate any further, it is hard to imagine these factors abruptly slowing economic growth. with its decision to let the libor slide back towards 2. 75 % in the short term, the snb has clearly signalled to the markets an easing of the situation. in switzerland, price stability has been maintained for the past 13 years, economic growth is significantly higher than in the 1990s and our unemployment rate is the lowest of all industrialised countries. it is our goal to preserve this favourable situation.