ZURICH: The Swiss National Bank on Tuesday posted a 12.04 billion franc ($13.36 billion) loss for the third quarter as the central bank lost money on its gold, foreign currency investments and Swiss franc positions.
The SNB lost 9.16 billion francs from its foreign currency positions during the three months to the end of September, as bond and equity prices fell on concerns that global interest rates would remain higher for longer.
It also made a valuation loss of 132 million francs on the 1,040 metric tons of gold it holds, as global gold prices fell.
In addition, the central bank reported a 2.66 billion franc loss from Swiss franc positions, mainly as a result of interest paid to commercial banks.
During the first nine months of the year, the SNB paid 5.4 billion francs in interest to commercial banks for money they lodge with the central bank overnight.
On Monday, the SNB said it was reducing this interest after costs soared since negative rates turned positive in Sept. 2022.
Swiss National Bank posts $15 billion loss during second quarter
As a result of the downturn in all three categories, the SNB’s nine month profit shrank to 1.7 billion francs from the 13.7 billion francs reported for the first half of the year.
The SNB’s results have been highly volatile in recent years, due to the vast level of foreign currency investments it built up during a long campaign to weaken the Swiss franc.
“The SNB’s financial result depends largely on developments in the gold, foreign exchange and capital markets. Strong fluctuations are therefore to be expected, and only provisional conclusions are possible as regards the annual result,” it said on Tuesday.
The central bank posted a 132.5 billion Swiss franc loss in 2022, the biggest in the central bank’s 115-year-history.
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