The Swiss National Bank's profits rose in the first nine months, though it took in less negative interest charges from banks for holding francs.
The Swiss central bank's profit rose to 41.4 billion Swiss francs ($45 billion) in the first nine months, from 26.3 million francs year-ago, it said in a statement on Friday. Its financial results vary widely due to its considerable foreign currency, gold, and other holdings; this year thus far, it took a 1.3 billion franc on its gold hoard, which is unchanged.
Its profit from foreign currency holdings – primarily euros, bought in market interventions in a bid to stem the rise of the franc against the European and other major currencies – stood at 42.2 billion francs.
By contrast, the SNB took in less from charging banks for holding big deposits of francs: this fell to 800 million francs in the first nine months, a drop of 186.5 billion. This comes in the wake of a relaxation to these measures afforded to banks during the pandemic
