SIC has been for 20 years the backbone of Switzerland’s payment traffic

Zurich, 15 June 2007 – 20 years ago, the Swiss financial institutions laid the cornerstone for the most secure and efficient processing of payment traffic between banks by launching SIC, the payment system in Swiss franc. Today, it settles transactions amounting to more than 1800 billion francs per day.

Swiss Interbank Clearing was mandated by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to operate the payment system for Swiss franc 20 years ago. It is one of the most secure, efficient and cost-effective systems in the world. Not only interbank payment transactions, but also payments between PostFinance and banks as well as cashless retail payment transactions are carried out via SIC. The system is of utmost importance for the implementation of the National Bank’s monetary policy, and thus for the entire Swiss financial center. Last year, the number of transactions handled by SIC rose 23.7 percent to 317 million. Each day, SIC turnover in terms of value amounts to more than 180 billion Swiss francs, an amount representing nearly half of Switzerland’s annual gross domestic product. For further information about Swiss Interbank Clearing: Gabriel Juri Head of Communication Phone: +41 44 279 47 04 E-mail