What is the Swiss National Bank (SNB)?
The Swiss National Bank reviews policy for the franc four times a year, and in 2015 it dropped the euro floor it had promised to defend.
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) is the central bank of Switzerland and sets policy for the Swiss franc (CHF), one of the market's classic safe havens. It meets less often than most major banks, and it has a history no other central bank matches: the day in 2015 it let go of the franc.
What does the SNB do?
Like any central bank it sets a policy rate and aims for stable prices. Its regular schedule is unusually sparse: the SNB carries out an in-depth monetary policy assessment four times a year, in March, June, September and December.
That makes each decision a bigger event. The next one is on 24 September 2026 at 07:30 UTC (09:30 Swiss time, according to the SNB's own schedule), followed by a press conference at 08:00 UTC. Calendars list the policy rate at 0.00% going in, and analysts at Nomura, in a note summarized by FXStreet on 17 September, expect it to stay there at this meeting — although the note is titled "Inflation pressures build": Swiss inflation rose to 0.8% year on year in August, above the 0.5% expected, according to investingLive.
Why is the franc so strong?
Because in a scare, money runs to it. When risk appetite collapses, the franc tends to rise alongside the yen and the dollar — the risk-off hierarchy decides which of the three wins on a given day.
For Switzerland that strength is a problem as much as a compliment. A franc that climbs too fast makes exports more expensive and pushes imported prices down, which is why the SNB has spent years trying to lean against its own currency rather than defend it.
What happened in 2011 and 2015?
The SNB ran one of the boldest experiments in modern currency policy.
| Date | Decision |
|---|---|
| 6 September 2011 | Sets a minimum exchange rate of CHF 1.20 per euro, and says it will buy foreign currency "in unlimited quantities" to enforce it |
| 15 January 2015 | Discontinues the minimum rate and cuts its interest rate to −0.75% |
Holding a floor means selling francs every time the market pushes against it — currency intervention with no end date. On 15 January 2015, outside its quarterly schedule, the SNB stopped, and a floor that traders had treated as permanent was gone in a single announcement. What that day did to the market has its own story: the Frankenshock.
The lesson has outlived the episode. In 2011 the SNB had promised to enforce the floor "with the utmost determination"; a central bank can make that promise and still walk away from it.
Why does it move forex?
Through the same channel as every bank — rate expectations — plus a second one that is specific to the SNB: its willingness to intervene. A statement that mentions buying foreign currency can move the franc more than the rate decision itself.
Near zero, the room to move is small, so traders read the tone. A bank that could cut below zero again, or intervene, is very different from one that is simply holding. The USD/CHF pair shows how the gap between a hawkish or dovish Fed and the SNB plays out in practice.
What this post does not give you
It does not predict the 24 September decision. The consensus is a hold, but the SNB's own history is the best reminder that consensus is not a guarantee.
The takeaway
Read the SNB through two numbers: its policy rate, and its appetite to sell francs. The first is reviewed four times a year — but, as January 2015 showed, the SNB can move between meetings; the second can change in a sentence, and the swissie reacts to both.
