ZURICH: Swiss National Bank said on Monday its 2021 profit rose to 26.3 billion Swiss francs ($28.57 billion), boosted by earnings from a massive pile of foreign currency investments built up during its campaign to restrain the safe-haven Swiss franc.

The figure, up from a 20.9 billion franc profit a year earlier, reflected gains from booming stock markets and increases in payments from the central bank's bond holdings.

The figure was the fourth highest since the SNB was founded in 1907. In provisional figures in January, the central bank had said it expected a profit of around 26 billion francs for 2021.