The Swiss National Bank SNB incurred a mega loss in the capital markets last year. Only one position went slightly up.
SNB has incurred a loss in the order of 132 billion Swiss francs in fiscal year 2022.
The loss, according to provisional figures released by the Swiss central bank on Monday, is mainly due to negative developments in foreign currency positions. There, the SNB made a loss of around 131 billion Swiss francs.
Small valuation gain
For Swiss franc positions, the loss amounted to around 1 billion Swiss francs. Only one position, namely the gold portfolio, resulted in a valuation gain of 0.4 billion Swiss francs.
After taking into account the existing distribution reserve of 102.5 billion Swiss francs, the balance sheet loss would be around 39 billion Swiss francs.
Long faces
This balance sheet loss makes it impossible for the SNB to make a distribution for the 2022 financial year, it said. This affects both the dividend to shareholders and the distribution of profits to the federal government and the cantons.
All owners of the SNB will therefore be left empty-handed this time and are likely to wear long faces. In mid-December, however, SNB President Thomas Jordan gave the media some hope for the future.
The losses were incurred by the SNB immediately due to the market valuations and the profits only showed up at a later date, as also reported by muula.ch.
The detailed 2022 annual financial statements with the final figures will be published on March 6, 2023, according to the communiqué.
Step on the gas
With the figures now announced, it is clear that the SNB has once again stepped on the gas towards the end of the year and reduced its losses somewhat.
As of the third quarter, the deficit was around 142.5 billion Swiss francs, as also reported by muula.ch. The loss on foreign currency positions had amounted to about 141 billion Swiss francs from January to September.
So in the last quarter, the largest loss position went up by about 10 billion Swiss francs.
Losses widening
There had been a valuation loss of 1.1 billion Swiss francs on gold holdings, which the SNB has now turned into a profit.
And the loss on the Swiss franc positions had originally amounted to 24.1 million Swiss francs. Now, three months later, the SNB is reporting a loss of a billion in this position.
The SNB’s equity had stood at around 55.9 billion Swiss francs at the end of the third quarter of 2022. This is now likely to show a slight upward trend.
09.01.2023/kut./ena.