In times of economic crisis, should central banks retain their independence?
Like many central banks around the world, the Swiss National Bank has operational independence to set interest rates and intervene in the foreign exchange markets.
This content was published on
1 minute
But should there not be a measure of political control over actions taken by the bank and its head?
More
More
Revelations emerge about central bank affair
This content was published on
The bank revealed on Tuesday that the employee, who worked in the bank’s IT sector and who had subsequently handed himself over to police, had given the information to a lawyer with close links to the rightwing People’s Party. “According to the employee, this lawyer then arranged a meeting with [People’s Party deputy chairman] Christoph…
This content was published on
Hildebrand and his wife Kashya have been accused of timing currency transactions to profit after the SNB set a minimum exchange rate for the franc against the euro. However, both the bank and the government have said that Hildebrand did no wrong. On Wednesday the SNB published its internal regulations on individual trading for board…
This content was published on
He said he had no plans to resign and accused opponents of trying to exploit false allegations for political ends. Breaking his silence to counter a national uproar on Thursday, Hildebrand said he had acted according to the central bank’s internal rules in the United States dollar swaps, which came as he was spearheading efforts…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
National Bank head cleared of wrong doing
This content was published on
In a statement on Friday, the SNB said there had been no misuse of privileged information. The bank commission based its judgment on a thorough investigation carried out by PriceWaterhouseCoopers. The investigators had checked all bank transactions of Hildebrand and his family in 2011, the SNB said. The investigation was triggered by persistent rumours that…
This content was published on
But the latest allegation of insider trading against SNB chairman Philipp Hildebrand has also called into question the independence of the central bank from political interference. Rumours that Hildebrand helped his wife make a profit from a franc-dollar transaction by forewarning her of SNB exchange rate interventions have been rejected by subsequent investigations. But the…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.