At the forefront are the regulatory requirements on banks’ equity capital and liquidity through laws and ordinances by the federal government and FINMA. Moreover, in Switzerland, the self-regulation rules for banks also constitute an important element. Thus, the relevant legal requirements are supplemented by rules and guidelines set by the Swiss Bankers Association, which FINMA can also recognise as a minimum standard. 8 This instrument has been applied several times over the past few years in relation to the mortgage and real estate markets. 8  Cf. finma.ch/en/documentation/self-regulation/ (consulted on 30 August 2021). Page 6/12  At international level, the SNB participates in various committees and working groups, such as the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. The recommendations and agreements of these bodies in turn have a major influence on our national legislation. One example of this is the CCyB. It was devised at international level and introduced in Switzerland in 2012 by means of a Federal Council ordinance. The CCyB is a key instrument for counteracting imbalances on the mortgage and real estate markets. When activated, banks are obliged to temporarily increase their equity capital beyond the levels imposed by existing capital requirements, depending on the magnitude of the vulnerabilities. The CCyB is designed to strengthen the resilience of the banking sector against the risks of excessive credit growth and also to counter any unsustainable credit growth. The capital buffer in Switzerland has so far been targeted at mortgage loans granted for residential real estate.
The third challenge is that we are currently living with genuine uncertainty. Who could have imagined in autumn 2019 that spring 2020 would turn out the way it did? * I would like to thank Mårten Löf, who has helped me with this speech. Moreover, I have received valuable comments from Charlotta Edler, Mattias Erlandsson, Rebecka Hallerby, Peter Kaplan and Marianne Sterner. 1 [6]  Monetary policy has pushed down market rates During the spring, the Riksbank has decided on a number of monetary policy measures. When financial markets do not function as normal, the credit supply in the economy is threatened. Here, I wish to highlight four measures that the Riksbank has implemented.1 The first has concerned buying government bonds, mortgage bonds and municipal bonds, as well as commercial paper for a total of SEK 300 billion. The Riksbank has, secondly, decide to give the banks the opportunity to borrow from the Riksbank so they can in turn offer loans to companies, SEK 500 billion has been allocated for this purpose. The third measure gives the banks the opportunity to borrow an unlimited amount from the Riksbank. And the fourth measure is the Riksbank's decision to lend up to 60 billion US dollars to banks that need foreign currency. These measures have two effects. They facilitate credit supply as the Riksbank in this way supplies more money to the financial system. When the volume of money increases, there is also downward pressure on market rates.