Economists: SNB looks strong, but trend not likely to continue

Economists: SNB looks strong, but trend not likely to continue

الأثنين, أبريل 24th 2023

Switzerland’s National Bank has had a strong start to the year; but with the shotgun merger of UBS and Credit Suisse, the trend is not likely to continue.

(Keystone) The Swiss National Bank (SNB) is likely to report a high profit for the first quarter of 2023 next Thursday. The economists at UBS estimate this at 17.5 to 27.5 billion Swiss francs, with the stock markets and gold probably having contributed to this.

Thomas J. Jordan, Chairman of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank, walks in front of the government building on his way to the Bernerhof, headquarters of the Federal Department of Finance FDF, on Sunday, 19 March 2023 in Bern. The Federal Council, the Swiss National Bank and representatives of banks meet at the Bernerhof to negotiate the rescue of Credit Suisse or a possible merger with UBS. (KEYSTONE/Peter Klaunzer)

The start of 2023 was successful for the SNB, wrote UBS in a forward-looking commentary on Monday. Although the environment for financial investments was volatile, it was overall friendly. Gold, equities and bonds all gained in the first three months, while the appreciation of the Swiss franc against the US dollar is likely to have weighed on the result somewhat on the foreign exchange side.

Read more: SNB posts biggest loss in its 115-year history

Despite the good start, however, according to UBS, it will remain difficult for the SNB to realize a profit that will make a distribution to the federal government and cantons possible in 2024. Because first a balance sheet loss of around 40 billion would have to be repaid and then allocations to the provisions for currency reserves would be added.

UBS assumes that the SNB would need an annual profit of CHF 45 to 50 billion for a minimal distribution to the Confederation and cantons. Achieving that is unlikely. The UBS experts estimate the profit potential lying dormant in the SNB’s portfolio at CHF 10 to 15 billion a year.

In 2022, the SNB posted a loss of CHF 132.5 billion due to the weak development on the stock and bond markets worldwide. There were therefore no distributions to the Confederation or the cantons or in the form of dividends.

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