All the conditions are in place for following the high road of mutual recognition and cooperation both with Europe and across the G20. The UK has the expertise, the temperament and the will to take this path, one that will make all the difference to all our citizens. 11  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  11
First of all, by creating a direct relationship between our profits and the funding of an important element in our system of social security, the initiative would establish a dangerous link, since it would certainly place the SNB under constant pressure to distribute more profits in the future. Higher profit distribution would only be possible if we took bigger investment risks or if we reduced our monetary reserves. Markets would start to ask themselves whether the SNB's goal was to ensure the monetary stability of the country or to generate profits. As I pointed out before, there is a risk that constant debate on this topic could sap market perception of our independence. This would damage our credibility and hamper our monetary policy. At the end of the day, implementation of this initiative would undermine confidence in the Swiss franc. Second, the initiative assumes that our profit distribution can be held permanently at a level above CHF 1 billion a year. This is an illusion. The only possible outcome is bitter disappointment on the part of our fellow Swiss. All our calculations show that, as confirmed in the remarks made by the President of the Bank Council on the results for 2005, the SNB's medium-term profit distribution potential amounts to only CHF 1 billion a year. If we deduct the gains due to the spectacular increase in the price of gold and to exchange rate gains from the CHF 12 billion profit recorded for 2005, the distributable profit falls to CHF 2 billion.