Today, more than 250 Swiss corporations are active in Brazil, which has become the top recipient of Swiss direct investment in Latin America and the fifth-largest worldwide. Despite differences in the structure of our economies - or maybe precisely because of them corporate Switzerland is very engaged in Brazil and has shared, for almost a century now, some of the fortunes and misfortunes affecting the Brazilian economy. After a long period of pegged exchange rates, Brazil recently decided to float its currency, to follow a monetary policy primarily focused on price stability and to reform its public finances. This new economic program seems to bear fruit, as growth has clearly resumed. However, the road to price stability is not an easy one. Inflation, although extremely low in comparison to the four-digit period of the late 80s, is not yet subdued, and the state of government finances is still subject to legitimate worries. The title of my speech is “Monetary independence and monetary stability: two sides of the same coin”. I will start by looking at some of the features which have given Switzerland the reputation of a financially strong country. Among other elements, I will show that price stability has played a central role in this respect. But there can be no monetary stability without an independent central bank and an independent monetary policy course. Drawing on my experience at the Swiss National Bank, I will spend some time discussing what, in my view, are the most crucial characteristics of a successful monetary policy.
Dimitar Bogov: Impact of international regulatory cooperation on the Republic of Macedonia Opening speech by Mr Dimitar Bogov, Governor of the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia, at the 36th meeting of the European Banking Federation, Skopje, 7 June 2013. *  *  *  Distinguished participants to the 36th European Banking Federation Associates’ Meeting, Dear Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Let me wish you a very warm welcome at today’s meeting. The topic I want to dedicate my welcoming speech on is international regulatory cooperation. The banking system in the Republic of Macedonia is predominantly foreign-owned and consists mostly of either subsidiaries of foreign banks or of banks owned by foreign portfolio investors. Foreign ownership has assisted banks in their efforts to follow sound market practice, develop and maintain high credit standards and receive encouragement and advice from their larger and longer established parent institutions. The global financial crisis and Eurozone debt crisis have not fundamentally changed this relationship. Nevertheless, these exceptional crises do constitute a real challenge for international and global banking. The Vienna Initiative, the framework to safeguard the financial stability of emerging Europe, has been valuable in raising awareness that the deleveraging process in developed Europe should not unduly restrict operations of bank subsidiaries in emerging Europe. In this context, it is important to note that even before the crises stroke, deposits raised in the Macedonian banking system by the predominantly foreign-owned domestic banks were lent by those same banks to borrowers in the Republic of Macedonia.