Swiss central bank posts record CHF132 billion loss for 2022

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The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has posted an annual loss of CHF132 billion ($143 billion) for 2022, the biggest in its 115-year history.

“The loss on foreign currency positions amounted to around CHF131 billion and the loss on Swiss franc positions was around CHF1 billion. A valuation gain of CHF400 million was recorded on gold holdings,” the SNB said in a statement on Monday.

The 2022 loss means the SNB will not make its usual payout to the Swiss federal and cantonal governments, it said. Last year it paid out CHF6 billion.

The figures released on Monday are provisional. They mark a reverse from the CHF26 billion profit in 2021. They are also much bigger than the previous record loss of CHF23 billion in 2015.

The loss is unlikely to have an impact on SNB policy. It hiked interest rates three times in 2022 as Chairman Thomas Jordan moved to stem high Swiss inflation, analysts said.

In mid-December the Swiss central bank increased its policy rate and the rate it charges on sight deposits to 1.0% from the 0.5% level set in September. The move follows a 0.5% interest rate hike by the United States Federal Reserve.

The SNB will release detailed annual figures on March 6.

About Swissinfo

SWI swissinfo.ch – the international service of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Since 1999, swissinfo.ch has fulfilled the federal government’s mandate to distribute information about Switzerland internationally, supplementing the online offerings of the radio and television stations of the SBC. Today, the international service is directed above all at an international audience interested in Switzerland, as well as at Swiss citizens living abroad.

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