Swiss National Bank. Swiss National Bank Main functions of the Bank of Switzerland

The Swiss National Bank is the central bank of Switzerland. Name of the bank in the official languages ​​of Switzerland: German. Schweizerische Nationalbank, fr. Banque Nationale Suisse, Italian. Banca Nazionale Svizzera, romsh. Banca Naziunala Svizra. According to the Federal Law on the Swiss National Bank, the Swiss central bank is a joint stock company with a special status. The bank has two headquarters: one is in Bern, the second in Zurich; The bank's branch is located in Geneva, representative offices are in Basel, Lausanne, Lugano, Lucerne and St. Gallen. The Swiss National Bank issues Swiss franc banknotes (coins are issued by the Swiss Mint).

On March 20, 1903, National Councilor Scherrer-Fuller proposed a bill to create central bank. On October 6, 1905, the Federal Law on the Swiss National Bank was adopted. On June 20, 1907, the Swiss National Bank began its work in Basel, Bern, Geneva, St. Gallen and Zurich. Subsequently, bank branches were opened in other cities of Switzerland. In 1907, the Swiss central bank began issuing Swiss franc notes.

Activity

The activities of the bank are determined by Article 99 of the Swiss Constitution: Monetary and foreign exchange affairs are under the jurisdiction of the Confederation; it alone has the right to issue coins and banknotes. The Swiss National Bank, as an independent central bank, pursues monetary and exchange rate policies that serve the general interest of the country; it is governed with the participation and supervision of the Confederacy. The Swiss National Bank generates sufficient foreign exchange reserves from its income; Some of these reserves are contained in gold. At least two-thirds of the Swiss National Bank's net profits go to the cantons. The bank's activities are described in more detail in the Federal Law on the Swiss National Bank. The main objectives of the Swiss National Bank are: The National Bank must pursue a monetary policy that serves the interests of the country as a whole. It must ensure price stability. At the same time, he must take into account the development of the economy. As part of this activity, it must perform the following tasks: A. It must ensure the liquidity of the Swiss franc in the money market. B. It must ensure the issuance and distribution of funds. B. It should promote and ensure the functioning of non-cash payment systems. D. It must manage foreign exchange reserves. D. It should help ensure stability. financial system. It must take part in international monetary and financial cooperation. For this purpose it must work together with the Federal Council in accordance with federal law. He must provide Banking services Confederation. In doing so, he must act on behalf of the competent federal authorities.

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The SNB is the central bank of Switzerland, which is responsible for the formation and implementation of monetary management within the country. This is a structure independent of the decisions of the Ministry of Finance, which became operational on June 27, 1907. In the same year, the first issue of the national currency took place.

Interest rate

Foreign exchange rates for today

Swiss National Bank News

The Swiss National Bank is a joint-stock company that has a special status in the state. The organization is led by shareholders who are elected banking council and the Board of Governors. The latter consists of three members appointed by the Federal Council. There are three departments under the control of these participants:

• departments for economics, audit, monitoring, legal organization monetary regulation and stabilization fund;
• control over financial risks, financial stability and monetary regulation within the state;
• financial market reporting, information Technology and banking operations.

Swiss National Bank is highly stable, since the state has a large gold reserve and foreign exchange fund. The country adheres to political neutrality. This fact makes Frank a successful risk insurance tool. On foreign exchange market, due to stability factors, CHF is considered the fifth most popular asset. USD, EUR, GBP and JPY are ahead. News Swiss Bank, reflecting large-scale changes in monetary management, affect the rates of other popular currencies.

The Swiss National Bank performs the following tasks:

• maintaining price stability by maintaining monetary policy;
• development of economic areas of the country;
• providing regular reports on work through Swiss Bank news;
• maintaining CHF liquidity through financial market operations;
• issue of banknotes and coins, distribution of funds between industries;
• mandatory participation of Swiss National Bank in international monetary and financial interaction.

When working in the Forex market with the Swiss Franc, it is necessary to take into account its correlation with gold. An increase in the price of the precious metal provokes an increase in the value of the Franc.

Banking system Switzerland is characterized by a three-tier structure. The first level is occupied by Swiss National Bank with head offices, representative offices and agencies, cantonal banks, Swiss Federal Financial Market Supervisory Authority.

The Swiss National Bank implements a balanced monetary policy and, together with the Federal Financial Market Supervisory Authority, is responsible for the sustainable development of the entire financial market. Unlike the central banks of many other countries, the Swiss National Bank is not a state-owned company, but a private joint-stock company, whose shareholders are cantons (territorial administrative units of the country), cantonal banks, and private investors. The National Bank does not carry out regulatory functions - this is the prerogative of the Federal Banking Commission.

Cantonal banks are government organizations established and controlled by the authorities of one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland. They have long been indisputably the most reliable in the world and arose as a result of the need to develop the cantonal economy through cheap government loans. The cantonal banks cover all sectors, but they have received the greatest development in the savings business and mortgage lending, as well as in the field of asset management.

The second level of the Swiss banking system is represented by the activities of various types of private commercial banks. The largest are two multinational banks - UBS and Credit Suisse, which account for more than 50% of Swiss deposits, and each of them has an extensive network of branches throughout the country and abroad. Among their main operations, the leading services are investment banking, private banking, and asset management.

Regional and savings banks Switzerland provides traditional banking services (mainly to clients in their regions): mortgage and corporate lending, accepting deposits.

Exchange banks, operating in the field of asset management, serve clients both within the country and abroad.

Private banking houses are organized in the form of partnerships, are the oldest banking cluster in Switzerland, and their area of ​​activity is management investment portfolio their clients.

The activities of subsidiaries and branches of foreign banks in Switzerland are very large-scale: their number exceeds 40% of the total banking institutions countries. Financial companies also play a significant role in the Swiss banking industry and are divided into companies engaged in deposit operations, and companies that do not accept deposits but provide other banking services.

Switzerland is a country of banks, so the third level of the banking system is represented by cooperative insurance banks and loan offices, whose traditional field of activity is currency and interest rate arbitrage operations.

Swiss National Bank (SNB)

The Swiss National Bank (German: Schweizerische Nationalbank SNB), which serves as the central bank of this Alpine country, was founded on January 16, 1906 and began operations on June 20, 1907. The SNB logo features the name “Swiss National Bank” in five languages: German, French, Italian, Romansh and English.

The main goal of the Swiss National Bank is to pursue a monetary policy that serves the interests of the country as a whole. In 2007, the bank celebrated its 100th anniversary. In honor of this event, she issued two special stamps similar to Swiss franc banknotes.

Shareholders of the National Bank

SNB is a joint stock company with a special status. The share capital of SNB is 25 million francs. 55% of the bank's shares belong to the Swiss cantons or cantonal banks, 45% of the shares are in private property. The Swiss Confederation is not a shareholder of the National Bank. Among the cantons, the largest shareholders are the canton of Bern (6.63%), the canton of Zurich (5.2%), the canton of Vaud (3.4%) and the canton of St. Gallen (3.0%). The most significant private shareholder of SNB is the German economist and manager from Düsseldorf Theo Siegert, who owns 6.72% of the shares. According to § 31 of the Swiss “National Bank Law”, for dividends paid to shareholders, there is upper limit at 6 %. Income on shares above 6% is distributed between the Swiss Confederation and the Swiss cantons: one third in favor of the confederation and two thirds in favor of the cantons.

SNB headquarters and branches

SNB's headquarters are in Zurich and Bern; The bank's branches and representative offices are also located in Geneva, Basel, St. Gallen, Lucerne, Lausanne and Lugano. In addition, there are 14 more SNB agencies in Switzerland, which are managed by cantonal banks. Their task is to provide Swiss banks with cash. In 2013, SNB opened its representative office in Singapore. This is the first representative office of the Swiss National Bank abroad.

The Swiss National Bank employs about 900 people. According to this indicator, SNB is one of the smallest banks in Western Europe. The Swiss National Bank has been headed by Berne economist Thomas Jordan since 2012.

Record profits for SNB

At the end of the 2017 financial year, the Swiss National Bank received a record profit of 54 billion francs. As a result, 2 billion francs will be paid in dividends to the confederation (one third) and the cantons (two thirds), which is the maximum possible payment amount.

Prior to this, the record profit was considered to be the result of 2014: 38.3 billion francs. The largest portion of the profit came from foreign exchange positions: 49 billion francs. 3 billion is the estimated profit of Switzerland's gold reserves as a result of rising gold prices. And SNB received another 2 billion francs from income from Swiss franc positions. Thomas Jordan emphasized that SNB's profit largely depends on the development of the situation in the capital market and the market foreign currency, on the price of gold, as well as on future value Swiss franc on the international foreign exchange market. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to draw a conclusion about the bank's possible profit in the next financial year.

Main tasks of the bank

The main tasks of the Swiss National Bank are:

• maintaining price stability;
• providing the country's financial and banking institutions with cash;
• ensuring non-cash payment turnover;
• ensuring the liquidity of the Swiss franc on the international money market;
• investment of capital in gold and foreign exchange reserves and their management;
• control over the stability of the country's financial system;
• compilation of financial statistical reports on a national scale;
• consultations with the Swiss government on monetary policy issues.

Personnel forge for central banks

SNB has its own training center Gerzensee (German: Studienzentrum Gerzensee), famous among bankers around the world. This center was founded in 1984 and is located in the picturesque town of Herzensee in the canton of Bern. Since 1986, this center has conducted training courses and seminars, as well as advanced training courses for its own employees, for employees of central banks from European countries, as well as for graduate students in economics. The training center enjoys a well-deserved reputation among bankers and financiers in Europe and is considered a “training ground” for employees of central banks. Since 2009, this center has been headed by the German economist Dirk Niepelt, who also teaches at the University of Bern and at the Research Center economic policy(Centre for Economic Policy Research, CEPR) in London.

SNBas issuing bank

The Swiss National Bank is the issuing bank and has the exclusive right to issue Swiss franc banknotes. Banknotes are printed in the printing house of the Swiss holding company "Orell Füssli", which was founded in 1519. Since 2016, they have been gradually introduced into circulation under the name “Multifaceted Switzerland”. Banknotes in denominations of 10, 20 and 50 francs have already appeared. Orell Füssli's clients also include central banks from 16 different European countries. The coins are produced by the Swiss Mint "Swissmint" in Bern, founded in 1855. The distribution of coins is also handled by the SNB.

Gold and foreign exchange reserves of the bank

The Swiss National Bank has impressive gold and foreign exchange reserves. is 1,040 tons. According to this indicator, Switzerland ranks 7th in the world. And Switzerland's foreign exchange reserves increased from 645 billion francs in February 2016 to 790 billion francs at the end of 2017. According to this indicator, Switzerland ranks 3rd in the world after China and Japan.

Structure of SNB foreign exchange reserves at the end of 2017.