Swiss National Bank posts CHF15 billion loss in first half of the year

The weakness of the dollar against the Swiss franc is clearly the main reason for the negative result, the SNB said. Keystone-SDA

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) slipped well into the red in the first half of 2025. In particular, the weakening US dollar since the start of the tariff turbulence at the beginning of April had a negative impact on the result.

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Overall, the SNB recorded a loss of CHF15.3 billion ($18.8 billion) in the period from January to June of the current year. According to a statement issued on Thursday, the SNB posted a loss of CHF22.7 billion on its foreign currency positions, while its gold holdings, which remained unchanged in terms of volume, recorded a valuation gain of CHF8.6 billion. Meanwhile, a loss of CHF1 billion was recorded on Swiss franc positions.

After a profit of CHF6.7 billion in the first quarter, this results in a loss of CHF22 billion for the second quarter of the year. The SNB even posted a loss of CHF4.2 billion on its gold positions in the second quarter due to the weak dollar.

The weakness of the dollar against the Swiss franc is clearly the main reason for the negative result. While the stock markets recovered quickly after the crash in the first half of April and in some cases reached new highs, the US currency remained weak.

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At the end of March, shortly before US President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day”, one dollar cost a good 88 centimes. At the end of June, it was a mere 79 centimes. The euro also weakened slightly, but only to CHF0.9340 from CHF0.9570.

As usual, the SNB emphasised that its result is largely dependent on the development of the gold, foreign exchange and capital markets. Strong fluctuations are therefore the rule and conclusions from the interim result to the annual result are only possible to a limited extent.

Translated from German with DeepL/gw

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