The Swiss National Bank is expected to post a record annual profit of around 80 billion Swiss francs ($87.79 billion) for 2024, it said on Thursday, after benefiting from booming stock markets, rising gold prices and a stronger US dollar.
The expected profit, according to provisional data, is the highest since the creation of the central bank in 1907, far surpassing the previous record of 54 billion francs in 2017.
The SNB, which will publish its results on March 3, recorded an annual loss of 3.2 billion francs in 2023 and a record loss of 132 billion francs in 2022.
The 2024 figure is in line with a forecast by UBS economists, and will allow a payout to SNB shareholders as well as the country’s central and regional governments for the first time in three years.
Last year, the SNB made a profit of 67 billion francs on its foreign currency holdings, thanks to strong stock markets – the MSCI World index gained 17% in 2024.
The central bank has invested in major technology companies such as Apple, Microsoft and e-commerce giant Amazon, among others.
The appreciation of the US dollar – in which the SNB holds 39% of its 744 billion francs in foreign currency assets – has also helped boost share valuations and dividends when converted into francs.
The SNB made a capital gain of 21.2 billion francs on the 1.04 million tonnes of gold it holds, with the price of the precious metal having jumped by more than 27% in 2024.
The central bank’s Swiss franc positions – mainly interest payments to banks for money deposited overnight and interest payments on SNB bills – on the other hand recorded a loss of 7.4 billion francs.
After allocating 11.6 billion francs to foreign exchange reserves and repaying previous losses, the SNB’s current profit amounts to around 16 billion francs, which allows it to pay 3 billion francs to the central and regional governments and a dividend of 15 francs to shareholders, the SNB indicated.
“Conditions last year were very favorable for the SNB, with a stronger dollar and higher gold prices, which do not normally happen at the same time, while stock markets performed very well behaved,” said UBS economist Alessandro Bee.
“This was a very unusual situation, but very favorable for the SNB’s profits.
(1 dollar = 0.9113 Swiss francs)
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