Central bank reports third quarter rise

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has reported a consolidated profit of SFr5.8 billion ($6.64 billion) for the first three quarters of 2011.

The SNB said on Monday that “the gold price and current interest rate situation have resulted in high valuation gains on gold and fixed interest rate investments”.

However, the bank added that the appreciation of the Swiss franc against major currencies since the beginning of the year had caused exchange-rate-related valuation losses.

The SNB has intervened several times over the past two years to bring down the franc’s value, and this September, announced a floor exchange rate of SFr1.20 against the euro. Since then, the franc has hovered above that mark.

By the end of September, the bank said, exchange rate losses had amounted to SFr4.7 billion. However, this figure was more than offset by the other components of foreign currency positions which contributed more than SFr5.0 billion.

Also, the gold price per kilogramme by the end of the third quarter was around SFr47,089. This resulted in a gain in value of SFr5.0 billion.

Despite the profit from the first nine months of the year, the bank said it was not yet willing to say whether any dividends would be paid out to shareholders, the federal government or cantons.