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For the gold sales it was planning, the SNB was allocated a quota not claimed by other central banks that were party to the agreement of 2004. The SNB has chosen an approach for its gold sales that will avoid market unrest, with regular sales transactions. The Swiss National Bank holds currency reserves in the form of foreign currency and gold, thereby ensuring that it has room for manoeuvre in its monetary policy at all times. As a result of the sharp rise in the price of gold, the proportion of the currency reserves held as gold has increased by about a quarter since mid 2005, from 33% to the current level of 42%. The purpose of the SNB's gold sales is to rebalance the composition of currency reserves with respect to its monetary policy requirements. Moreover, by reducing its gold reserves and increasing its foreign exchange reserves, the overall risk on SNB assets will decline. Once the sales have been completed, the Swiss National Bank's gold holdings will amount to some 1,040 tonnes. 2. Swiss Interbank Clearing (SIC) to celebrate its 20th anniversary  Over the next few days, the Swiss Interbank Clearing System SIC will celebrate its 20th anniversary. In 1987, the introduction of the SIC payment system represented a revolution for Swiss payment transactions. SIC was one of the first payment systems in the world of the type known as Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS).