In Asia, Swiss direct investments amount to 35 billion Swiss francs, and Swiss firms employ 300,000 people, up 20% from 2000. In Singapore, to take an example, Switzerland is among the top European investors, ranking third after the UK and the Netherlands. The 250 Swiss companies here contribute 18% to total European investment in Singapore. Our trade relations with Singapore have developed rapidly in recent years. Since the late 1990s, total bilateral trade has increased by almost 50% to a new record of 1.9 billion Swiss francs last year. As a consequence of the rapid expansion of our trade with Asia, in general, and Singapore, in particular, the overall significance of Asian trade for us is now of the same magnitude as our trade with the United States. However, taking into account the relative size and the potential in Asia, there is still a lot of leeway for Swiss firms. A similar picture can be observed with respect to Swiss direct investment on the continent of Asia. Despite an increase of 30% between the late 1990s and 2004, Asia still only accounts for 7.7% of total Swiss investment abroad. Although Singapore commands the lion's share in this regard – 2.5% or 11 billion Swiss francs – it is evident that there is enormous potential for the expansion of bilateral economic relations between our two countries, and even more between Switzerland and other emerging Asian countries.
Here it is the commercial banks and other private sector stakeholders that choose the best technologies and solutions. The division of roles between central banks and commercial banks results in a good balance between safety and efficiency. At the first level, the central banks facilitate the settlement of interbank transactions on secure systems and in electronic central bank money. In so doing, they minimise the risks in the systemically important segment of payment transactions, beyond which the risks can be borne by the market. At this second level, settlement can take place via alternative channels, without necessarily having to be based on central bank money. This division of roles between central banks and commercial banks epitomises our current two-tier financial system. In the first tier, the central bank acts as the banker to the banks. In the second tier, the commercial banks act as the interface to the end customers. And it is the competing commercial banks that decide which services they want to provide for companies and private individuals. This system is efficient and proven. There is much more to fintech than just DLT In connection with fintech, I have so far focused mainly on DLT. However, there is of course much more to fintech than just DLT. In addition to DLT, a whole array of promising innovations could potentially be applied to traditional financial services. We need only think of mobile payments, robo advisers, crowd lending or big data.