The outstanding capital market debt of these corporations has more than doubled since the financial crisis – to almost CHF 70 billion. This is due, among other things, to the fact that it has become more attractive for them to finance themselves via the bond market than via bank loans (cf. chart 4). Having said this, relative to these companies’ total liabilities as well as to GDP, capital market debt remains low. The increase nevertheless shows that corporations have, as expected, taken advantage of the exceptionally low interest rates to raise more capital. As a result of this development, the market for bank loans has become slightly less important than the capital market. Notwithstanding this, when it comes to external financing, bank loans continue to play a key role. As is the case in many European countries, as well as Japan, Switzerland’s financial system is fundamentally bank-centric. Bank loans account for just Seite 3/7  over 80% of companies’ external financing. 1 In the UK and the US, on the other hand, companies raise a far larger share of their financing via the capital market. From a monetary policy perspective, the differing transmission of negative interest to the capital market and lending rates is unproblematic to the extent that stimulating lending was never a priority for the SNB. 2 The core concern was – and is – the restoration of the interest rate differential with other currencies and the associated effect on the exchange rate.
I would like to thank you very much for your attention. I will now hand over to my colleague, Dewet Moser, who will provide more detailed information about the latest developments on the money and foreign exchange markets.