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Swiss National Bank

 
Hoover's Profile: Swiss National Bank
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(Swiss:SNBN)
Contact Information
Swiss National Bank
Börsenstrasse 15
8022 Zurich, Switzerland
Tel. +41-44-631-31-11
Fax +41-44-631-39-11

Type: Public
On the web: http://www.snb.ch

As the central bank of a European country that has not joined the European Union, Swiss National Bank prints and mints money for itself and for Switzerland. Its primary mandate is to control inflation, but the bank also sets Swiss monetary policy, manages the country's cash supply, compiles financial data, and acts as a bank to the various government agencies of the Swiss cantons. In addition, Swiss National Bank provides liquidity to "ordinary" Swiss banks. Since the changeover of most European Union countries to a single currency, Swiss National Bank sets its policies with an eye to its Euro-dealing neighbors.

Key numbers for fiscal year ending December, 2008:
Sales: $5,316.4M
Net income: $4,477.5M

Officers:
Vice Chairman Governing Board; Head Department II (Finance, Cash, Financial Systems, Security): Philipp M. Hildebrand
Chairman Governing Board; Head Department I (Economics, International Affairs, Legal and Administrative): Jean-Pierre Roth
Alternate Member Governing Board; Finance Director, Department II (Finance, Cash, Financial Systems, Security): Thomas Wiedmer

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Wikipedia: Swiss National Bank
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
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 This article relies largely or entirely upon a single source. Please help improve this article by introducing appropriate citations of additional sources. (October 2008)
Swiss National Bank
Schweizerische Nationalbank (German)

Banque Nationale Suisse (French)
Banca Nazionale Svizzera (Italian)
Banca Naziunala Svizra (Romansh)
A picture of Swiss National Bank headquarters in Berne
A picture of Swiss National Bank headquarters in Berne
Headquarters Berne and Zurich
Established 1907
Chairman Jean-Pierre Roth
Central Bank of SwitzerlandSwitzerland
Currency Swiss Franc
ISO 4217 Code CHF
Website Official site of Swiss National Bank

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) is the central bank of Switzerland. It is responsible for Swiss monetary policy and for issuing Swiss franc banknotes.

The names of the institution in the four official languages of the country are: German: Schweizerische Nationalbank; French: Banque Nationale Suisse; Italian: Banca Nazionale Svizzera; Romansh: Banca Naziunala Svizra.

The SNB is an Aktiengesellschaft under special regulations. About 55% of its shares are owned by public institutions like cantons and cantonal banks.[citation needed] The remaining shares are traded on the stock market. They are mostly owned by private individuals.[citation needed]

The Swiss National Bank has 2 head offices, one is in Berne and the other one in Zurich.

Contents

Governing Board

The Governing Board is made of 3 members:

Gold reserves

Switzerland's gold reserves.

The SNB manages the official gold reserves of Switzerland, which as of 2008 amount to 1145 tonnes and are valued at 30.5 billion CHF.[1] The gold is believed to be stored in huge vaults beneath the Federal Square (Bundesplatz) to the north of the federal Parliament building in Berne, but the SNB treats the location of the gold reserves as a secret.[1] Independent confirmation of the gold's location was obtained by the Bernese newspaper Der Bund in 2008. It published a photograph of the bullion that a Keystone photographer was allowed to take at the SNB premises in Berne in 2001. Der Bund also quoted a retired official of the city's surveying office as saying that the gold vaults take up an area of roughly half the Federal Square and have a depth of dozens of meters, down to the level of the Aar river.[1]

WWII Controversy

There is controversy over the role of the Swiss National Bank in the transfer of Nazi gold during World War II (see Nazi gold). The SNB was the largest gold distribution centre in continental Europe before the war. A study by the U.S. Department of State in 1997 notes that the Bank, "must have known that some portion of the gold it was receiving from the Reichsbank was looted from occupied countries."[2] This was confirmed by the Swiss Bergier Commission in 1998 which concluded that the SNB received $440m in gold from Nazi sources, of which $316m is estimated to have been looted.[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Schwendener, Pascal (25 July 2008). "Schatz unterm Bundesplatz: Das Gold der Nationalbank" (in German). Der Bund. pp. 18. http://ext.bernerzeitung.ch/artikel_549321.html. Retrieved 2008-07-27. 
  2. ^ Eizenstat Special Briefing on Nazi Gold. Stuart Eizenstat, US State Department, 2 June 1998. Retrieved on 5 July 2006.
  3. ^ "Switzerland and Gold Transactions in the Second World War"PDF (1.18 MiB). Bergier Commission, May 1998. Retrieved on 5 July 2006.

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