Andréa M Maechler and Thomas Moser: Swiss payments vision – an ecosystem for future-proof payments

Speech by Ms Andréa M Maechler, Member of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank and Mr Thomas Moser, Alternate Member of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank, at the Money Market Event, Zurich, 30 March 2023.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Ladies and gentlemen

Welcome to the Swiss National Bank's Money Market Event. My colleague Thomas Moser and I are delighted that we are able to hold this event in Zurich in person for the first time since 2019.

In recent weeks, the SNB has been active to the full extent of its statutory mandate. At our monetary policy assessment last week, we raised our policy rate by 50 basis points to 1.5%. In doing so, we are countering the renewed increase in inflationary pressure. To provide appropriate monetary conditions, we also remain willing to be active in the foreign exchange market as necessary – for some quarters now, the focus has been on selling foreign currency. At the same time, there has been a loss of confidence in Credit Suisse over recent weeks. In order to avert damage to Switzerland, on the Sunday before last the authorities decided on extensive measures to safeguard financial stability. Within the framework of its mandate, the SNB contributed to this solution, acting as lender of last resort to ensure the stability of the Swiss and global financial system. Today we are talking about another element of our mandate: ensuring a well-functioning system of payment transactions in Switzerland. All three elements – price stability, financial stability and a well-functioning payment system – are important for public confidence in money.

This evening, we will be looking at the future of cashless payments. The payments system is currently undergoing extensive change, both in Switzerland and around the world. The main drivers of this change are the ongoing digitalisation and the increasing use of new technologies such as distributed ledger technology (DLT). These are enabling new forms of money and are fundamentally changing the way we make payments.