But, from a long run perspective, its performance is highly significant. Internationally, many changes are taking place in the FMI arena and it is vital that our FMI – often referred to as the “plumbing of our financial markets” – continues to serve Switzerland’s best interests in the future. My goal this evening is to raise awareness of the FMI’s importance and of the need to develop a strategy to ensure that it remains an asset for us in the future. Part I: Financial market infrastructure Overall, the key elements of the Swiss FMI function well. In the recent crisis, the resilience of our infrastructure has been remarkable. But, increased competition, international regulatory changes, growing trade volumes and, on occasion, heightened volatility imply that it will have to evolve in order to remain effective. I will hence highlight three aspects of our FMI tonight: its relevance, its strengths and the challenges it faces. The importance of a safe and efficient financial market infrastructure The summer of 2011 will take its place in history as a period of considerable market uncertainty and volatility. On three occasions we saw daily moves of the Swiss franc against the Euro which were among the most extreme experienced since the inception of the euro in 1999. The most significant one day move of 3.2% occurred on 9 August.
In fact, the market itself has this evaluation. Comparing with the effects in other countries, the last three episodes of increased volatility and tension in world financial markets have had very limited effects on the Chilean economy (Figure 6). BIS Review 97/2007  7  Figure 6: Exchange rates (local currency units per US dollar, percent change) May 2006(1) Argentina Australia Brazil Chile Eurozone Hungary Indonesia Japan Malaysia Mexico New Zealand Philippines Poland Russia South Africa South Korea Turkey United Kingdom  1,5 5,8 8,0 7,3 1,6 7,0 6,6 5,2 2,9 5,4 3,3 4,0 6,1 0,1 20,3 3,2 20,3 2,3  February 2007 (2)  August 2007 (3)  0,0 3,0 2,6 1,0 0,7 0,7 2,0 -4,2 0,7 1,0 5,2 1,0 0,6 0,4 5,9 1,2 5,1 2,2  1,7 Argentina 10,3 Australia 8,8 Brazil 1,9 Chile 2,4 Eurozone 5,1 Hungary 3,3 Indonesia -6,3 Japan 2,3 Malaysia 3,1 Mexico 13,6 New Zealand 4,1 Philippines 1,8 Poland 1,4 Russia 6,8 South Africa 2,9 South Korea 7,0 Turkey 3,4 United Kingdom  (1) Shows variation between 10 May and 27 June. (2) Shows variation between 26 February and 5 March. (3) Shows variation between 19 July and 17 August. Source: Bloomberg.