Swiss central bank names vice-chair successor

Martin Schlegel (pictured right) will assume his new monetary policy decision making role at the SNB from August 1. © Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has named Martin Schlegel to take over as vice-chair of its Governing Board, which sets interest rates in Switzerland.

Schlegel will replace Fritz Zurbrügg who steps down at the end of July following health issues.

The appointment comes at a time of intense scrutiny of monetary policy at central banks across the world as inflation gathers steam. The SNB has maintained its ultra-low interest rate policy of -0.75% despite other central banks starting to raise rates to combat inflation.

This includes the Federal Reserve raising interest rates by half a percentage point on Thursday.

“Given the challenges for monetary policy in the current environment, ensuring continuity with regard to the responsibilities in the Governing Board is of pivotal importance for the SNB,” the central bank said in a statementExternal link on Wednesday.

Schlegel, who has served in various positions at the SNB since 2003, will join chair Thomas Jordan and Andréa Maechler on the three-person Governing Board from August 1. Schlegel is currently an Alternate Member of the Governing Board, a role that already gives him some influence over monetary policy decisions.

Born in 1976, Schlegel has been described as an SNB “superstar” by SWI swissinfo journalist Fabio Canetg in his Geldcast podcastExternal link.

“Schlegel is considered the star pupil of SNB President Jordan,” said Canetg in December as he analysed the most likely candidates to replace Zurbrügg. “Schlegel is very open and easy-going, which is rather atypical for SNB managers, and he is very popular among his peers at the central bank.”

In the negative column, Canetg also noted a “perceived reluctance to embrace new ideas”.

The SNB has also decided to increase the number of alternate governing board members, appointing Petra Gerlach and Attilio Zanetti to these roles from August 1.