Lun, 4 de Mar de 2024
The Swiss National Bank faces another year of losses, marking a CHF 3.2 billion deficit for 2023, with no distributions expected for the Confederation, cantons, or shareholders.
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) closed 2023 in the red again. As already known, there are no distributions to the Confederation and cantons or in the form of dividends.
Specifically, the SNB reported a definitive loss of CHF 3.2 billion for the 2023 reporting year, following a massive loss of CHF 132.5 billion in the previous year. However, the figures published today do not surprise: the SNB had already reported a provisional loss of around CHF 3 billion at the start of the year.
The result is heavily dependent on developments in the financial markets and can fluctuate wildly and even be significantly negative. In detail, the SNB achieved a profit of CHF 4.0 billion on its foreign currency positions and a plus of CHF 1.7 billion on its gold holdings. In contrast, the result of its Swiss franc position was negative at CHF -8.5 billion.
After allocating CHF 10.5 billion to the provisions for currency reserves to strengthen equity and considering the negative distribution reserve of CHF 39.5 billion, last year’s overall balance sheet loss amounted to CHF 53.2 billion.
This amount now also corresponds to the new deficit in the distribution reserve and, by the provisions of the National Bank Act and an existing agreement between the Confederation and the SNB, makes a distribution impossible – this applies to the Confederation and the cantons as well as to shareholders. Therefore, a distribution for this year is also unlikely, as the SNB would have to generate a profit of well over 60 billion.
The detailed accounts for 2023 show that the SNB only achieved a relatively small increase of CHF 4.0 billion with its foreign currency holdings despite high price gains on equities and bonds due to the development of the Swiss franc.
Price gains of CHF 14.8 billion on bonds and CHF 34.6 billion on equities, as well as income from interest and dividends of around CHF 13 billion.
This was offset by exchange rate-related losses totaling CHF 58.0 billion. The Swiss franc appreciated significantly against both the US dollar and the euro.
At the end of 2023, one dollar cost an excellent 84 Swiss cents, compared to 92 centimes a year earlier. One euro cost 93 centimes after just under 99 centimes at the end of 2022.
The profit on gold holdings of 1.7 billion Swiss francs resulted from a 3.1 percent higher gold price in Swiss francs, while holdings remained unchanged at 1040 tons. In dollar terms, however, the gold price would have risen significantly more by 10 percent.
The loss of CHF 8.5 billion on Swiss franc positions was mainly due to interest of CHF 7.4 billion on the commercial banks’ sight deposits at the SNB, as well as interest expenses from liquidity-absorbing operations and interest income on certain loans.
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