Tag Archive: Swiss National Bank

SNB Balance Sheet Now Over 100 percent GDP

Since 2008 the balance sheet of the Swiss National Bank has risen from 28% to 102% of Swiss GDP. Balance sheets of other central banks have strongly risen, too. But there is one big difference: The risk for the SNB is far higher, the SNB nearly exclusively possesses assets denominated in volatile foreign currency.

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Interim results of the Swiss National Bank as at 30 June 2016

2016-08-25

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2016-08-25

Income statement, 1 January–30 June 2016
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) reports a profit of CHF 21.3 billion for the first half of 2016. A valuation gain of CHF 7.6 billion was recorded on gold holdings. The profit on foreign currency positions amounted to CHF 13.0 billion.

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Two More Banks Start Charging Select Clients For Holding Cash

2016-08-19

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2016-08-19

Bank of Ireland, which is 14% owned by the State, has informed its large corporate and institutional customers that it plans to charge them a negative rate of -0.1% for deposits of €10 million or more starting in October.

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Swiss National Bank’s U.S. equity holdings hit record $61.8 billion last quarter

2016-08-03

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2016-08-03

The value of the Swiss National Bank’s U.S. stock portfolio jumped to a record in June, helped by equity market gains. The holdings climbed to $61.8 billion from $54.5 billion at the end of March, according to calculations by Bloomberg based on the central bank’s regulatory filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and published on Wednesday.

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Spiritus rector des kranken Bonussystems ist Oswald Grübel

2016-07-13

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2016-07-13

97 Franken – das war der Kurs der CS-Aktie im Mai 2007. Vergangene Woche notierte die Aktie noch bei einem Zehntel. Bei einem solch dramatischen Kurszerfall muss die CS sich nicht wundern, wenn kritische Fragen gestellt werden. Weshalb beträgt der aktuelle Wert der CS-Titel nur noch rund die Hälfte des in der Bilanz ausgewiesenen? Besteht die Gefahr eines Konkurses der CS? Wer wird dieses Too Big To Fail-Institut allenfalls retten? Die SNB, der...

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In Surprising Development NIRP Starts To Work, Pushing Rich Swiss Savers Out Of Cash Into Stocks

2016-06-23

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2016-06-23

One of the rising laments against NIRP is that far from forcing savers to shift from cash and buy risky (or less risky) assets, it has done the opposite. Intuitively this makes sense: savers expecting a return on the cash they have saved over the years are forced to save even more in a world of ZIRP or NIRP, as instead of living off the interest, they have to build up even more prinicpal.

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Central Banks & Governments and their gold coin holdings

2016-06-13

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2016-06-13

While this is true in some cases, it is not the fully story because many central banks and governments, such as the US, France, Italy, Switzerland, the UK and Venezuela, all hold an element of gold bullion coins as part of their official monetary gold reserves.

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FX Weekly Preview: Four Central Bank Meetings and More

2016-06-12

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2016-06-12

A couple of weeks ago, the four central banks that meet in the coming days were thought to be a big deal.  Numerous Federal Reserve officials were preparing the market for a summer hike. Risks of a new downturn in Japan spurred spe...

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Swiss Reserves: Not what They Seem

2016-06-08

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2016-06-08

SNB Currency Allocation 2016
This posts shows again the stupidity of the financial media, that mixes up assets and liabilities for central banks. SNB FX reserves are assets. They are in different foreign currencies and subject to the valuation effect of these currencies.

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Nigeria Currency Devaluation Looms As FX Forwards Crash To Record Lows

2016-05-25

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2016-05-25

Despite US equity investors' exuberance over bouncing crude oil prices, the world's crude producers continue to suffer and while Venezuela is in the headlines every day (having already collapsed into chaos), Nigeria appears the nearest to that abyss ...

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Three unintended consequences of NIRP

2016-05-24

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2016-05-24

Central bankers use low or negative interest rates so that it leads to more investment. For them interest rates are a consequence of the currently very low inflation rates. Patrick Watson argues differently: Falling prices are a consequence of low interest rates.

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Apple Jumps After Berkshire Reveals 9.8 Million Share Stake

2016-05-17

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2016-05-17

After three consecutive weeks of seemingly relentless bad news for Apple, moments ago the stock jumped by $2 dollars, rising from $90.5 to over $92.50. Some hope for the Swiss National Bank or will Berkshire shares sink together with Apple and the SNB?

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As Carl Icahn Was Selling Apple, This Central Bank Was Furiously Buying

2016-05-14

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2016-05-14

We hope for the sake of Swiss residents that equity markets never suffer a dramatic drop. The SNB has “invested” 20% of Swiss GDP in stocks. When will the ivory tower economists ultimately lose control of the most manipulated, centrally-planned market in history?

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St. Louis Fed Slams Draghi, Kuroda – “Negative Rates Are Taxes In Sheep’s Clothing”

2016-05-09

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2016-05-09

"At the end of the day, negative interest rates are taxes in sheep’s clothing. Few economists would ever claim that raising taxes on households will stimulate spending. So why would they think negative interest rates will?" Those are the shocking wor...

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Gold, Bonds and Negative Interest Rates Give SNB a Q1 profit

2016-04-28

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2016-04-28

2016 Q1 Results Swiss National Bank
SNB Results Q1 2016: Two thirds of SNB profit comes from Gold. Deflation helps with higher bonds prices and profit on negative interest rates.

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Swiss National Bank: Composition of Reserves (Assets) and Investment Strategy

The Q1/2016 update on the SNB investment strategy and its assets. The Swiss National Bank is a passive conservative investor. As opposed to other investors, the exposure in currencies is as important as the strategic asset allocation according asset classes (bonds, equities, cash, real estate). The importance of currencies is one reason why the SNB is often called a hedge fund, the second the volatility of gains and losses.

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With Tech Tanking, Can Anything Save The System?

2016-04-27

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2016-04-27

Submitted by John Rubino via DollarCollapse.com, First it was the banks reporting horrendous numbers — largely, we were told, because of their exposure to recently-cratered energy companies. Now it’s Big Tech, which is a much harder thing t...

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Wall Street and SNB In Pain: 163 Hedge Funds Are Long AAPL Stock

2016-04-26

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2016-04-26

First it was the blow up of hedge fund darling Valeant that crushed countless funds who were long the name. Then, one month ago after the collapse of the Allergan-Pfizer deal, we showed (one of the reasons) why the hedge fund world continued to unde...

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A Take On How Negative Interest Rates Hurt Banks That You Will Not See Anywhere Else

2016-04-14

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2016-04-14

The Bank of Japan and the ECB are assisting me in teaching the world's savers, banking clients and corporations about the benefits of blockchain-based finance for the masses. How? Today, the Wall Street Journal published "Negative Rates: How One Swis...

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ZIRP, NIRP, QE, Bank Collapse and Helicopters Coming Too Late – The Lehman Effect Hits Europe – Hard!

2016-04-11

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2016-04-11

It's official, I'm calling a banking crisis in Europe. Things didn't go well the last time I did this. Of course, many will say, "But the rating agencies have learned their collective lessons. They would most assuredely warn us if the European banks...

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