Indeed, monitoring the robustness of the financial system requires the evaluation of various factors that threaten the financial system as a whole and create systemic risks. For this reason, the perspective of the Bank is a macro and risk-focused one, similar to the perspective used in the financial stability reports published by other central banks. The definition of objectives and functions of central banks are different from those of supervisory authorities. Though central banks increasingly tend not to deal directly with the monitoring and supervision of banks in recent times, they continue to monitor developments in the banking sector as well as the basic systemic risks. Today, 38 central banks around the world publish the Financial Stability Report. In a total of twenty countries, fourteen European and six non-European countries, supervisory authority is separate from the central bank. Especially in systems where the power to monitor is granted to autonomous institutions other than the central bank, the function of monitoring and supervising the financial system focuses on the issue of financial soundness and effectiveness of individual institutions. However, the monitoring of the financial system as a whole in terms of financial stability is carried out by central banks. In countries such as England, Australia, Norway, Finland and Sweden, where the supervisory authority is not the central bank, central banks, including that of Turkey, focus on the objective of price stability and carry out operations consistent with monetary policies by monitoring the developments in financial markets.
Thomas Jordan: Currency reserve adjustments, the SIC payments system and financial market developments Introductory remarks by Mr Thomas Jordan, Member of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank, at the half-yearly media news conference, Berne, 14 June 2007. *  *  *  In my remarks, I would like to address three topics. First, I will speak about the adjustments in the composition of our currency reserves. Then, I would like to comment on the Swiss Interbank Clearing (SIC) payment system and its twenty years of existence. At the end, I will say a few words about developments in the financial markets. 1. Adjustments in the composition of currency reserves  The Swiss National Bank is adjusting the composition of its currency reserves. Before the end of September 2009 it will sell 250 tonnes of gold and increase its foreign exchange reserves by a corresponding amount. The overall level of currency reserves will remain unchanged. The gold sales fall within the bounds set by the second Gold Agreement of 8 March 2004, in which the central banks of the Eurosystem, plus the Sveriges Riksbank and the Swiss National Bank, agreed to limit their gold sales over a period of five years, beginning on 28 September 2004. The Gold Agreement specifies that annual sales by all signatories may not exceed 500 tonnes and that the total sales volume over this period shall not amount to more than 2,500 tonnes.