Category Archive: 1) SNB and CHF

SNB Governing Board: Federal Council appoints Martin Schlegel as Vice Chairman of the Governing Board

Petra Gerlach and Attilio Zanetti become Alternate Members of the Governing Board. At its meeting of 4 May 2022, the Federal Council appointed Martin Schlegel as Vice Chairman of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank with effect from 1 August 2022. He will succeed Fritz Zurbrügg on the Governing Board when the latter steps down at the end of July 2022.

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Aktien – Wie «Amateure» sich an der Börse selber helfen können

Credit Suisse und UBS liefern uns ein schönes Lehrstück. Die UBS verspekulierte sich in den USA derart, dass die Schweizerische Nationalbank deren faule Kredite in der Finanzkrise von 2008 übernehmen und somit die Grossbank vor dem Kollaps retten musste. Derweil vermochte die Credit Suisse die Verluste selber zu stemmen und erhielt dafür Anerkennung.

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Interim results of the Swiss National Bank as at 31 March 2022

The Swiss National Bank reports a loss of CHF 32.8 billion for the first quarter of 2022. The loss on foreign currency positions amounted to CHF 36.8 billion. A valuation gain of CHF 4.2 billion was recorded on gold holdings. The profit on Swiss franc positions was CHF 10.6 million.

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Macro Week 2022: Thomas Jordan

At this critical juncture for the global economy and monetary policy, the Peterson Institute for International Economics is convening central bankers and finance officials from around the world for our annual Macro Week—a series of speeches and onstage discussions moderated by PIIE President Adam S. Posen. Thomas Jordan (Chairman, Swiss National Bank) speaks on April 19, 2022. For more information, visit:...

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What are the consequences of the war in Ukraine for the SNB’s monetary policy?

Russia's attack on Ukraine has fundamentally changed the geopolitical situation. However, it also has far-reaching economic consequences and poses the question as to whether the integration of the global economy will decrease again.

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Swiss Financial Accounts: Household wealth in 2021

The Swiss National Bank is today publishing financial accounts data for Q4 2021. Data on household wealth are thus available for the whole of 2021; a commentary is provided below. This is followed by a detailed look at the development of the financial net worth of the Swiss economy’s institutional sectors since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Geldcast update: calls for a more transparent Swiss National Bank

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) is very opaque by international standards. That has to change, says Yvan Lengwiler, professor of economics at the University of Basel. He explains his proposals in the latest Geldcast update.

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Macro Week 2022: Thomas Jordan

At this critical juncture for the global economy and monetary policy, the Peterson Institute for International Economics is convening central bankers and finance officials from around the world for our annual Macro Week—a series of speeches and onstage discussions moderated by PIIE President Adam S. Posen.

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Switzerland has frozen CHF7.5bn in assets under Russia sanctions

Switzerland has so far frozen some CHF7.5 billion ($8 billion) in funds and assets under sanctions against Russians to punish Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

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UBS-Präsident Axel Weber verabschiedet sich mit Genugtuung

"Ich habe vor zehn Jahren die Nachfolge von Kaspar Villiger angetreten, der die Bank in den Wirren der Finanzkrise übernahm", sagte Axel Weber am Mittwoch in einer Abschiedsrede an seiner letzten UBS-Generalversammlung zu den Aktionären.

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Andréa M. Maechler / Thomas Moser: Life after Libor: A new era of reference interest rates

A new era of reference interest rates began at the start of this year. Libor, which had been the key reference rate for several decades and several currencies, including the Swiss franc, ceased to exist in many currencies at the end of 2021. SARON has now fully replaced Swiss franc Libor.

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Quarterly Bulletin 1/2022 – Monetary policy report

Report for the attention of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank for its quarterly assessment of March 2022. The report describes economic and monetary developments in Switzerland and explains the inflation forecast. It shows how the SNB views the economic situation and the implications for monetary policy it draws from this assessment. The first section (‘Monetary policy decision of 24 March 2022’) is an excerpt from the press release...

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2022-03-30 – 1/2022 – Business cycle signals: SNB regional network

Report submitted to the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank for its quarterly assessment. The appraisals presented here are based on discussions between the SNB’s delegates for regional economic relations and company managers throughout Switzerland. In its evaluation, the SNB aggregates and interprets the information received. A total of 241 company talks were conducted between 18 January and 8 March.

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Fritz Zurbrügg: Macroprudential policy beyond the pandemic: Taking stock and looking ahead

In the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), national regulators and international institutions joined forces to build the foundations of our current macroprudential frameworks. These comprise policies aimed at containing the build-up of vulnerabilities to which the banking sector is exposed, and at strengthening banking sector resilience.

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SNB’s Zurbruegg: It is not roll of monetary policy to cure risks to financial system

Vulnerabilities have increased and Swiss real estate market. Swiss apartments overvalued by 10% to 35%. SNB continues to monitor developments in real estate market. It is not roll of monetary policy to curb risk to financial system. The  USDCHF  is trading back below its 100 hour moving average at 0.93129 and its 200 hour moving average at 0.93304.

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SNB introduces possibility of repo rate transactions being indexed to policy rate

This will be added to the SNB's monetary policy repertoire moving forward but not before some test operations are conducted. For the time being, the central bank implements monetary policy by setting the SNB policy rate so this just adds to the tools they can play around with. However, I still see the key policy rate as being the main weapon in the armory.

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Swiss balance of payments and international investment position: 2021 and Q4 2021

The current account surplus in 2021 was CHF 69 billion, up CHF 49 billion on the previous year, which was heavily influenced by the coronavirus pandemic. The increase in the current account surplus was almost entirely due to the higher receipts surplus in goods trade (up CHF 45 billion). Here a significantly higher receipts surplus was recorded in both traditional goods trade (foreign trade total 1) and merchanting than in the previous year....

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„Jetzt hilft uns, dass Thomas Jordan ein Falke ist“

Der SNB-Chef wurde wegen seiner harten Anti-Inflations-Haltung gescholten, sagt Fabio Canetg, Journalist mit "Geldcast"-Sendung. Nun profitiere die Schweiz davon, weil hier die Preise mit plus 2 Prozent im Vergleich zum Euro-Raum und den USA moderat stiegen. Das wiederum ziehe Vermögen aus dem Ausland an, was den Franken stärke und die Inflation zusätzlich dämpfe.

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Devisen: Euro legt in etwas weniger trübem Umfeld zu

Auch gegenüber dem Franken hat der Euro am Montag über die erste Tageshälft angezogen. Derzeit kostet er 1,0244, am Morgen waren es noch 1,0213 und am Freitagabend 1,0200. Der US-Dollar zeigt sich bei 0,9348 Fr. relativ stabil. In Marktkreisen gilt es als ziemlich sicher, dass die SNB zur Stützung des Euro auf Höhe der Parität zum Franken eingegriffen hat.

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Swiss National Bank renews its commitment to adhere to the FX Global Code

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has renewed the Statement of Commitment to the FX Global Code based on the revised version of the Code dated July 2021. By signing this Statement, the SNB attests that its internal processes are consistent with the principles of the FX Global Code. The SNB also expects its regular counterparties to comply with the agreed rules of conduct.

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