Swiss National Bank

The Swiss National Bank was founded under the law of 6 October 1905 ('the National Bank Act'), which entered into force on 16 January 1906. Business was started on 20 June 1907.[6]

Sometime during World War I (1914–1917)[7] the bank was instructed to release notes of small denomination, for the first time, by the Federal Council of Switzerland.[1]

The Federal Council devalued the Swiss Franc during 1936, and as a result there was made available to the National Bank an amount of money, which the bank subsequently stored in a Währungsausgleichsfonds reserve for use in future situations of emergency.[8]

The Swiss National Bank provided 1.2 billion CHF to the Reichsbank. Of this, a value of approximately 780 million CHF of the gold given to the National Bank was gold which had been looted by the forces of Germany. In addition the National Bank also exchanged between 1.2 and 1.6 billion CHF for gold from the Allied forces.[9] During 20 April 1944, gold from the gold reserves of Italy arrived from Como at the railway station within Chiasso.[10]

There is controversy over the role of the Swiss National Bank in the transfer of Nazi gold during World War II. The SNB was the largest gold distribution centre in continental Europe before the war. A study by the U.S. Department of State in 1997 notes that the bank "must have known that some portion of the gold it was receiving from the Reichsbank was looted from occupied countries".[11] This was confirmed by the Swiss Bergier commission in 1998 which concluded that the SNB received US$440 million in gold from Nazi sources,[12] of which US$316 million is estimated to have been looted. The gold from Nazi governorship sources was in the form of lingots containing gold looted from central banks of Europe and gold from Jews executed within the concentration camps established by the machination of the Nazi regime, which the SNB took without knowing these facts at the time, nor inquiring to any great degree in the process of its transfer into the possession of the SNB, according to Robert Vogler, a former archivist of the SNB.[13]

In 1981 the bank participated in research involving Orell Füssli and an optical research group named Landis+Gyr, on matters of banknote design.[14]

During 1994 the bank was described as a joint-stock company acting under the administration and supervision of the Confederation. It had eight branches and twenty sub-branches within cantons. The governing board had overall executive management of the National Bank, with supervision entrusted to its shareholders, the banks' council, the banks' committee, its local committees and auditing committee. The three members of the governing board together decided the monetary policy of the Swiss National Bank. Towards the end of 1993 it had 566 employees.[1]

With the inception of Article 99 of the Swiss Federal Constitution, in May 2004, the National Bank achieved formal independence.[15]

SNB and the Swiss government engineered a bailout plan for UBS in October 2008 during the subprime mortgage crisis.[16] SNB, agreeing to take over around $60 billion of UBS's toxic assets, created a special-purpose vehicle called the SNB StabFund, to park the securities.[17][18] Within a few years, SNB was able to free itself from UBS's illiquid securities, making a CHF 5 billion profit in the process.[17]

The SNB announced on 6 September 2011 to set a minimum exchange rate of CHF 1.20 per euro and that it would "enforce this minimum rate with the utmost determination and is prepared to buy foreign currency in unlimited quantities"[19][20] in order to take measures to stem the development of a possible recession. The bank stated the 1.20 exchange rate was defendable as the bank could potentially proceed to mint enough banknotes to control the rate sufficiently.[21]

The SNB announced on 15 January 2015 the euro currency arrangement would end as the euro crisis had passed and the Europeans would be making financial policy changes.[22]

As of 31 December 2021 78,17% of voting shares are held by public shareholders (cantons, cantonal banks, etc.). The remaining shares are largely in the hands of private persons. Shares of the SNB have been listed at the SIX Swiss Exchange since 1907.[23] As of April 2022, Theo Siegert, a German entrepreneur, holds 5.05% of its stocks, and as such, he is the third-largest shareholder, between the Canton of Vaud (3.401%) and the Canton of Zürich (5.2%).[24] The national bank's statutes, though, limit the voting rights of private investors to 100 shares.

On 9 January 2023 the SNB reported a loss of 132 billion CHF in its annual results for 2022.[25] As many cantons expected dividend payments from the SNB, some cantons had to revise their budgets or even tap their financial reserves. For example, a planned tax decrease in the canton of Thurgau had to be postponed. Likewise, the federal government had budgeted a 666 million CHF income from SNB.[26]

On 16 March 2023, Credit Suisse sought to shore up their finances by taking a loan of CHF 50 billion from SNB after the bank's share price dropped nearly 25 percent after Saudi National Bank, its largest investor, said it could not provide more financial assistance due to its regulatory restrictions.[27][28][29] Despite the intervention, a bank run occurred that week, causing SNB and the Swiss government to fast-track UBS taking over Credit Suisse.[30] To support the acquisition of Credit Suisse by UBS, the SNB offered liquidity assistance of up to CHF 100 billion.[31]

The National Bank is entrusted with the note-issuing privilege. It supplies the economy with banknotes. It is also charged by the Confederation with the task of coin distribution.

In the field of cashless payment transactions, the National Bank provides services for payments between banks. These are settled in the Swiss Interbank Clearing (SIC) system via sight deposit accounts held with the National Bank.

The National Bank manages currency reserves. These engender confidence in the Swiss franc, help to prevent and overcome crises and may be utilized for interventions in the foreign exchange market.

The National Bank contributes to the stability of the financial system by acting as an arbiter over monetary policy. Within the context of this task, it analyses sources of risk to the financial system, oversees systemically important payment and securities settlement systems and helps to promote an operational environment for the financial sector.

Together with the federal authorities, the National Bank participates in international monetary cooperation and provides technical assistance.

The Swiss National Bank acts as banker to the Swiss Confederation. It processes payments on behalf of the Confederation, issues money market debt register claims and bonds, handles the safekeeping of securities and carries out money market and foreign exchange transactions.

The National Bank compiles statistical data on banks and financial markets, the balance of payments, the international investment position and the Swiss financial accounts.

Sign asking the Swiss National Bank to divest from fossil fuels, at a climate demonstration in Bern (2019).

The Swiss National Bank invests its assets, particularly in the stock market. In 2018, its share portfolio stood at 153 billion Swiss francs.[38]

According to its guidelines, it "avoids shares in companies which produce internationally banned weapons, seriously violate fundamental human rights or systematically cause severe environmental damage".[39]

Since 2016, environmental associations and academics criticize the fact that these investments do not take into account the Paris Climate Agreement (article 2) and are responsible for at least 50 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions in 2017.[38][40][41]

Switzerland bonds
Inverted yield curve in 2023

  30 year

  10 year

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The Swiss National Bank pursues a monetary policy serving the interests of the country as a whole. It must ensure price stability, while taking due account of economic developments. Monetary policy affects production and prices with a considerable time lag. Consequently, it is based on inflation forecasts rather than current inflation.

The SNB's monetary policy strategy consists of three elements: a definition of price stability (the SNB equates price stability with a rise in the national consumer price index of less than 2% per year), a medium-term conditional inflation forecast, and, at operational level, a target range for a reference interest rate, which is the Libor for three-month investments in Swiss francs.

The general meeting of shareholders is held once a year, usually in April. Owing to the SNB's public mandate, the powers of the shareholders' meeting are not as extensive as in joint-stock companies under private law.

The Bank Council oversees and controls the conduct of business by the Swiss National Bank and consists of 11 members. Six members, including the President and Vice President, are appointed by the Federal Council, and five by the Shareholders' Meeting. The Bank Council sets up four committees from its own ranks: an Audit Committee, a Risk Committee, a Remuneration Committee and an Appointment Committee.

A list of the Bank Council members is published on the SNB website.[42]

The Swiss National Bank's management and executive body is the governing board. The governing board is responsible in particular for monetary policy, asset management strategy, contributing to the stability of the financial system and international monetary cooperation. The Governing Board consists of three members:

• Chairman: Thomas Jordan[43]
• Vice Chairman: Martin Schlegel[44]
• Member: vacant

• Heinrich Kundert, 20 June 1907 – 30 November 1915[45]
• August Burckhardt, 1 December 1915 – 26 November 1924[45]
• Gottlieb Bachmann, 1 July 1925 – 15 March 1939[45]
• Ernst Weber, 1 April 1939 – 31 March 1947[45]
• Paul Keller, 1 April 1947 – 31 May 1956[45]
• Walter Schwegler, 1 June 1956 – 31 August 1966[45]
• Edwin Stopper, 1 September 1966 – 30 April 1974[45]
• Fritz Leutwiler, 1 May 1974 – 31 December 1984[45]
• Pierre Languetin, 1 January 1985 – 30 April 1988[45]
• Markus Lusser, 1 May 1988 – 30 April 1996[45]
• Hans Meyer, 1 May 1996 – 31 December 2000[45]
• Jean-Pierre Roth, 1 January 2001 – 31 December 2009[45]
• Philipp Hildebrand, 1 January 2010 – 9 September 2012[45]
• Thomas J. Jordan, Since 18 April 2012[45]