Swiss National Bank

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Swiss National Bank
Banque nationale suisse ( French )
Banca nazionale svizzera ( Italian )
Banca naziunala svizra ( Romansh )
Logo of the Swiss National Bank
Logo of the Swiss National Bank
Headquarters Bern and Zurich , Switzerland
founding January 16, 1906 (legal)
June 20, 1907 (operational)
president Thomas Jordan
country the Switzerland
currency

Swiss franc

ISO 4217 CHF
Currency reserves CHF 746.3 billion (May 2018)
printer Orell Füssli security printing
Website www.ofs.ch
Mint (s) Swissmint
Website www.swissmint.ch
Website

www.snb.ch

List of central banks
Important key interest rates (as of March 19, 2020)
interest rate height
European Central Bank (valid from: September 18, 2019)
Deposit rate (deposit facility) −0.50%
Base rate (main refinancing operations) 0.00%
Marginal lending rate (marginal lending facility) 0.25%
Swiss National Bank (valid from: June 13, 2019)
SNB policy rate −0.75%
Federal Reserve System (effective March 16, 2020)
Federal funds rate target range 0.0 to 0.25%
Primary Credit Rate 0.25%
Bank of Japan (effective December 19, 2008)
Discount rate (basic discount / loan rate) 0.30%
Bank of England (effective March 19, 2020)
Official Bank Rate 0.1%
Chinese People's Bank (valid from: February 20, 2020)
Discount rate (one-year lending rate) 4.05%
National Bank building on Bundesplatz in Bern
Swiss National Bank in Zurich from Mägenwil Muschelkalk
Swiss National Bank shares for CHF 500 on June 6, 1907

The Swiss National Bank ( SNB ; French Banque nationale suisse , BNS , Italian Banca Nazionale Svizzera , BNS ; Romansh Banca Naziunala Svizra ? / I , BNS ), as an independent central bank , the monetary and monetary policy of the Swiss Confederation . According to the constitution and the law, the National Bank must be guided by the general interests of the country. The National Bank is organized in the form of a stock corporation under special law . In English it appears as the Swiss National Bank . Audio file / audio sample

tasks

As the independent central bank of the Swiss Confederation, the SNB is obliged to perform various economic tasks in the country and to fulfill them in the country's interest. This includes the following areas in particular:

  • Maintaining price stability
  • Guarantee of the supply of cash
  • Handling of cashless payment transactions
  • Investment of currency reserves
  • Monitoring the stability of the financial system
  • Compilation of statistics
  • Advising the federal government on monetary policy issues

With the Gerzensee Study Center , the SNB operates an internationally renowned training center for central bankers.

organization

Bank Council

The Bank Council oversees and controls the management of the National Bank. It consists of eleven members. Six members, including the President and Vice-President, are elected by the Federal Council and five by the General Assembly. The board of directors forms an audit committee, a risk committee, a compensation committee and an appointment committee from among its members. The term of office for members of the Bank Council is four years and the total term of office is a maximum of twelve years.

The members of the Bank Council are (as of October 9, 2018):

Directory

The highest executive and executive body of the National Bank is the Governing Board. In particular, it is responsible for monetary policy , the strategy for investing assets and for international currency cooperation. The Extended Directory consists of the three members of the Directory and their three deputies. It is responsible for the operational management of the National Bank. The members of the Governing Board and their deputies are elected by the Federal Council on the proposal of the Bank Council for a term of six years. Re-election is possible.

On January 9, 2012, after the resignation of President Philipp Hildebrand ( Hildebrand affair ), Thomas Jordan was elected interim President of the Board of Directors, and since April 18, 2012 President. The three-member directorate consists of the following members (as of October 2018):

Extended Directory
  • Thomas Moser, Deputy Member of the Board of Directors
  • Martin Schlegel, Deputy Member of the Board of Directors
  • Dewet Moser, Deputy Member of the Board of Directors

External organization

The National Bank has one seat each in Bern and Zurich . It also has representations in Basel , Geneva , Lausanne , Lugano , Lucerne and St. Gallen . There are also 14 agencies that are run by cantonal banks and serve to supply the country with money. The National Bank has also had a branch in Singapore since 2013, which is the National Bank's first representative office on foreign soil.

The National Bank is a special legal stock corporation under federal law. It is administered with the cooperation and supervision of the federal government in accordance with the provisions of the National Bank Act. The shares are designed as registered papers and listed on the stock exchange . The share capital amounts to 25 million francs and was most recently around 55 percent owned by the public sector ( cantons , cantonal banks, etc.). The federal government does not own any shares. At the end of 2018, the SNB was majority-owned for the first time; Thurgauer Kantonalbank already left in 2017 . Around 900 people work at the National Bank. This makes it one of the smallest central banks in Europe.

The largest shareholders of the SNB are:

Personalities

Monetary policy

The SNB controls its monetary policy today using a target range for the 3-month Libor on the Swiss franc money market . Until 2000, instead of setting a reference interest rate range, a monetary target was published .

From 2000 onwards, the SNB primarily used repo transactions as a monetary policy instrument to implement its monetary policy , with which it regularly supplied the market with money. If necessary, it withdrew liquidity from the market using the same instrument. In the wake of the financial crisis , the SNB gradually replaced the repo business with foreign exchange purchases from October 2008 . It siphons off the excess Swiss franc liquidity resulting from the expansion of the currency reserves by issuing its own money market paper , the so-called SNB bills. Foreign exchange purchases and SNB bills are now the most important instruments for implementing monetary policy.

External value of the Swiss franc

On September 6, 2011, the SNB wrote in a press release that the overvaluation of the Swiss franc posed an acute threat to the Swiss economy. Therefore, a clear and permanent devaluation of the Swiss franc is their goal:

National Bank sets minimum exchange rate of 1.20 francs per euro: The current massive overvaluation of the Swiss franc poses an acute threat to the Swiss economy and carries the risk of deflationary developments. The Swiss National Bank is therefore aiming for a clear and permanent weakening of the Swiss franc. With immediate effect, it will not tolerate a euro-franc rate below the minimum rate of 1.20 on the foreign exchange market. The National Bank will forcefully enforce the minimum exchange rate and is ready to buy unlimited foreign currency. The franc is also highly valued at 1.20 per euro and should continue to weaken over time. If the economic outlook and deflationary risks so require, the National Bank will take further measures.

- Swiss National Bank

The financial markets reacted immediately: the franc fell from 1.11 to 1.21 francs / euro; the stock markets in Switzerland rose sharply (e.g. the Swiss Market Index ) because the strong franc had previously made exports by Swiss companies abroad less attractive. The Swiss National Bank maintained this pegging of the Swiss franc to the euro and the minimum exchange rate of 1.20 francs per euro until January 15, 2015. As a result, the Swiss franc fell by up to 20% and has not exceeded the target of 1.20 CHF / EUR since then.

Gold inventory

Gold bar of the SNB (1975)

The gold consisted of 1040 tons of stores to 70 percent in Switzerland, 20 percent in the Bank of England and about 10 percent of the Bank of Canada (as of 2013).

Unlike the Deutsche Bundesbank and the US Federal Reserve , the SNB is based on the market value principle. This shows the price of gold in your profit and loss account . For 2013, the SNB dividend is canceled for the first time in a long time; In 2013 the price of gold fell sharply, while it had risen sharply in previous years.

The World Gold Council published (as of September 2013) that six other countries and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have large gold stocks:

USA (8134 tons), Germany (3391), IMF (2814), Italy (2452), France (2435), China (1054 tons).

Appropriation of profits

According to Art. 31 of the National Bank Act (NBA), shareholders receive a dividend of no more than 6 percent of the share capital. One third of the amount of the net profit that exceeds this distribution goes to the Confederation and two thirds to the cantons.

Climate demonstration in Bern in front of the Swiss National Bank

sustainability

The Climate Alliance calls for more sustainability and climate protection at the National Bank. A corresponding parliamentary initiative by National Councilor Adèle Thorens was rejected by the National Council in 2018. In 2019, the SNB began to move a little in the wake of international developments and to join the Central Banks and Supervisors Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) . In a previously published report, the network found that climate risks are relevant to financial stability and were not adequately considered in risk assessments by external ratings and other market participants.

history

Support for the National Socialist war economy

1922: the newly built National Bank Zurich

During the Second World War, Switzerland was the most important trading point for gold from the sphere of influence of the Third Reich . Initially, a small part of the gold business was also carried out through commercial banks; by a Federal Council decision, only the SNB bought gold from the Third Reich from the end of 1942. At the beginning of the war, the SNB made no attempt to distinguish between legally acquired and stolen gold with regard to the gold supplied by the Reichsbank . The management of the Swiss National Bank had known since 1942 at the latest that the Reichsbank had access to illegal looted gold from the German military campaigns - in particular from the Belgian National Bank and the Dutch Central Bank . Since December 1943, she has considered it possible that gold would also be taken from the Holocaust victims. As early as the second half of 1940, the SNB received the first information that gold was being confiscated not only from central banks but also from private individuals in the occupied countries, and in August 1942 an article published in the NZZ left no questions unanswered about the origin of Reichsbank gold . The warnings of the Allies from the beginning of 1943 regarding the looting and looting economy of the Nazis did not lead to the termination of the business relationship, rather gold was purchased until April 1945.

100th anniversary

In 2007 the National Bank celebrated its 100th anniversary. To mark the occasion, Swiss Post has issued two special stamps. The shape and appearance of the stamps with a value of 85 cents and 1 franc are very reminiscent of the then current series of Swiss notes by designer Jörg Zintzmeyer . The 1-franc mark is the same as a 100-franc banknote. The 85 centime stamp is reminiscent of a fictitious note. The Federal Mint has also issued a commemorative coin for the anniversary.

Others

On December 20, 2017, the SNB took over 90% of the security paper manufacturer Landqart , which was in financial difficulties and from which the paper for the Swiss franc banknotes comes.

See also

Web links

Commons : Swiss National Bank  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ SNB has fewer foreign exchange reserves . Finanz und Wirtschaft Accessed on October 23, 2018
  2. ↑ Aims and tasks of the Swiss National Bank (overview) Accessed on November 14, 2017.
  3. ↑ Bank Council (as of October 9, 2018). Retrieved October 23, 2018.
  4. ^ National Bank Governing Board : Thomas Jordan becomes President, Jean-Pierre Danthine Vice President. Fritz Zurbrügg is a new member. (PDF; 74 kB) Press release of April 18, 2012.
  5. ^ Directory. In: snb.ch, accessed on October 23, 2018
  6. ↑ The SNB on www.snb.ch, accessed on 16 February 2012 found.
  7. ↑ a b The world of the National Bank. , accessed January 11, 2012.
  8. ^ Michael Heim: National bank asks cantonal banks for loyalty. In: handelszeitung.ch . April 18, 2019, accessed April 19, 2019 .
  9. ↑ 109th Annual Report. Swiss National Bank. 2016 , accessed March 24, 2017.
  10. ↑ Presentation (PDF; 712 kB) by Jean-Pierre Danthine , Swiss National Bank, March 18, 2010.
  11. ↑ National bank sets minimum exchange rate of 1.20 francs per euro Media release of the Swiss National Bank of 6 September 2011 (PDF; 55 kB)
  12. ↑ Frank Bremser, Barbara Schäder: The goals and dangers of the franc weakening.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: capital.de from September 7, 2011.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.capital.de  
  13. ↑ National Bank cancels minimum exchange rate and lowers interest rate to −0.75%. (PDF) Swiss National Bank (SNB), January 15, 2015, accessed on January 15, 2015 .
  14. ↑ Peter A. Fischer: The National Bank has no gold in the USA. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung from April 27, 2013
  15. ↑ Thomas Jordan : Presentation at the General Assembly on April 26, 2013.
  16. ↑ How central banks put away their gold price losses. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung from January 6, 2014.
  17. ↑ Profit and profit distribution on www.snb.ch, accessed on January 6, 2012.
  18. ↑ 17,455 Parliamentary Initiative. Constitutional business of the SNB under the banner of sustainability. Retrieved October 6, 2019 .
  19. ↑ Michael Schäfer: Climate Risk: Does the SNB Underestimate the Effects? April 15, 2019, ISSN  0376-6829 ( nzz.ch [accessed October 6, 2019]).
  20. ↑ Hitler's willing stencils , Der Spiegel 38/1996.
  21. ↑ Switzerland and the gold transactions in World War II - interim report of the Independent Expert Commission Switzerland - Second World War, Chronos Verlag 1998, ISBN 3-908661-00-5 , p. 134 (PDF).
  22. ^ Final report of the Independent Expert Commission Switzerland - Second World War , Pendo Verlag Zurich 2002, ISBN 3-85842-601-6 , p. 256 ff. (PDF)
  23. ↑ Salomon Wolff, Das Gold in der Kriegswirtschaft: NZZ, No. 1291, August 16, 1942, p. 4., central passage quoted in Klaus Urner : Emil Puhl and the Swiss National Bank , Swiss Monthly Hefts , Volume 65 (1985), Heft 7-8, pp. 627-628.
  24. ↑ Publications of the Independent Expert Commission Switzerland - Second World War , Vol. 16: Switzerland and the gold transactions in the Second World War ( summary of the interim report , summary of the final report ).
  25. ↑ Swiss National Bank acquires majority of Landqart AG , media release of the SNB, December 21, 2017.

Coordinates: 46 ° 56 '49.6 "  N , 7 ° 26' 41.8"  E ; CH1903:  six hundred thousand four hundred and eighty  /  199560