Andréa M Maechler: Financial markets and monetary policy implementation - an evolving relationship

Speech by Ms Andréa M Maechler, Member of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank, at the Money Market Event, Geneva, 17 November 2016.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Ladies and gentlemen

Welcome to the SNB's Money Market Event in Geneva. It is a great pleasure for me to be able to address you here today for the second time. Last year, my speech centred entirely around monetary policy itself. Today, I would like to focus on its implementation in the financial markets.

As you know, central banks in the advanced economies have expanded their monetary policy toolkits considerably since the peak of the global financial crisis in 2008. This has changed the way in which they act on the financial markets. Traditionally, the money market interest rate has been the key monetary policy variable. In the last few years, central banks have used unconventional measures to exert a more or less direct influence on other financial market prices as well. This was and is the only way to fulfil their mandate in difficult times. As a result, central banks today focus more than they used to on developments in the financial markets.