Lately, a trend has been the emergence of new suppliers of payment services outside of the bank domain, in Europe facilitated by legislation. Their heterogeneity is large, but so is the potential of some of them. Private and public sector do what they do best My third takeaway regards the role of the private and public sectors. While their roles may have changed over time, they have invariably explored their comparative advantages. Throughout history, the private sector has showcased that it is an  8 [15]  excellent innovator and understands consumer needs. Where there is a problem, it often provides a solution. The primary role of the public sector revolves around trust, universal services to all citizens, and security. One fundamental role of central banks today is to facilitate payments between banks. While the predecessor to our current clearing and settlement system may have started life in a London tavern, it later moved into the central banks. The main reason for this is to help banks settle payments using accounts at the central bank, i.e. in central bank money, thus abolishing the credit risks that could arise if they instead used commercial bank money. Central bank money is generally regarded as the safest settlement asset that could be used. While the private sector innovates, the public sector needs to be ready to ‘step in’ and correct market failure, provide coordination, guidance, and exercise its comparative advantages from time to time.
We are therefore pleased that we have evidently been able to meet the expectations of the banknote users – the Swiss population: - The new designs have been almost universally well received and have also been lauded by banknote experts internationally. - The new notes are technologically state-of-the-art and are also easy to handle, robust and distinctive. - All the logistical processes, including the modification of ATMS to accommodate the new notes, also ran largely smoothly. The substantial media and public interest and the feedback on social media have also been gratifying. When it comes to rapidly informing the public about the security features and the design of the new banknotes, the media naturally play a pivotal role. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the SNB, thank you for all the work you do. We broke new ground with respect to informing the public as well, introducing ‘Swiss Banknotes’ – an augmented reality app with which users can explore the new series. We are Page 3/4  Berne, 3 September 2019 Thomas Jordan  News conference on new banknotes  convinced that this innovation has helped to make the design and security features of the banknotes more accessible, especially to younger generations. So what happens to the eighth-series notes now? The old banknotes remain legal tender until further notice and can thus continue to be used for making payments. The SNB plans to announce the recall date for the eighth-series notes in the course of 2020.