In 2022 the Swiss National Bank reported a loss of 132 billion Swiss francs ($ 143 billion) per year. This was the largest in the bank’s 115-year-old history. It said Monday that falling stocks and fixed-income markets had impacted the share and bond portfolio’s value.
The Swiss Franc’s strengthening also had negative effects.
Monday’s provisional number, which was a reverse of a 26 million franc profit made in 2021 and marked an increase from the record-breaking loss of 23.25 billion francs in 2015, was much larger than that recorded in 2015. This is slightly less than Morocco’s annual GDP.
On March 6, the SNB will publish detailed figures for each year.
The more than 800 million francs it purchased in bonds and stocks during its long-running campaign to weaken Swiss francs resulted in a loss totaling 131 billion Francs.
As central banks across the globe, including the SNB raised interest rates in an effort to curb inflation, global stock markets declined and bond prices plummeted last year.
Due to the strong Swiss Franc, which rose above parity against the euro in July, exchange rate losses were caused.
Positively, the SNB had 1,040 tonnes of gold at its end in 2021. It also gained 400 million Francs in 2022.
It stated that the 2022 loss resulted in the SNB not making its regular payments to Swiss central and regional governments. The SNB made 6 billion Francs last year.
The loss will not have any impact on SNB policies. Analysts said that it raised interest rates by three times in 2022 because Chairman Thomas Jordan sought to curb high Swiss inflation.
Karsten Junius (an economist at J.Safra Sarasin) stated that “The SNB’s massive losses won’t change its monetary policies at all.” The SNB’s high reputation helps it not have to alter anything.
