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Nature and purpose of the SNB's assets
| Role of assets within the monetary policy framework
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The SNB's assets essentially consist of foreign exchange and gold reserves as well as financial assets in Swiss francs (securities and claims from repo transactions). They represent a part of Switzerland's national wealth and perform important monetary policy functions.
| Part of the SNB's assets are used directly for the implementation of monetary policy. In order to supply the economy with base money and to control money market rates, the SNB temporarily purchases securities or foreign exchange from the banks. Since 2000, monetary policy has been implemented almost exclusively by means of repo transactions.
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Currency reserves
| Asset management
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Under art. 5 para. 2 of the National Bank Act (NBA), the SNB is responsible for managing the currency reserves. Currency reserves consist of foreign exchange reserves and gold. The National Bank holds currency reserves in order to have room for manoeuvre in monetary policy at any time. Currency reserves serve to prevent and overcome potential crises.
| Asset management is governed by the primacy of monetary policy and is carried out in accordance with the criteria of security, liquidity and performance. The SNB manages its assets in accordance with the principles of modern investment policy. The foreign exchange reserves are mostly invested in secure and liquid securities.
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Investment principles
| Investment performance
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The SNB’s own Investment Policy GuidelinesInvestment Policy Guidelines define the scope for its investments and for the investment and risk management process.
| Returns on currency reserves and financial assets in Swiss francs are published under investment performanceinvestment performance and in the Annual ReportAnnual Report of the Swiss National Bank.
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