Central bank posts loss of almost SFr20 billion

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has reported a consolidated loss of SFr19.17 billion ($20.7 billion) in 2010 after the strong rise of the franc hit its bottom line.

The stability fund, the fund with toxic assets from Swiss bank UBS, made up for some of the hefty losses from the SNB’s currency interventions and recorded a profit of SFr2.6 billion.

The SNB and its chairman Philipp Hildebrand have come under fire over the losses on the currency reserves, built up during interventions that were carried out until June 2010 aimed at fighting deflation risks from the soaring franc.

Parts of the Swiss media and some politicians have said the central bank squandered the people’s money in the interventions, which failed to prevent the franc from surging to record highs against the euro and the dollar.