The Swiss National Bank (BNS) has confirmed that at the end of the 2022 financial year it recorded a record adverse result of 132,479 million Swiss francs (133,069 million euros), compared to earnings of 26,300 million francs (26,417 million euros) for the year above, which prevents the entity from distributing its usual annual dividend to the Swiss Government and the cantons.
In addition, the institution set the allocation to provisions for the year at 9,600 million Swiss francs (9,643 million euros), raising the annual distributable result to -142,047 million francs (142,679 million euros), to which, after applying reserves amounting to 102,500 million francs (102,956 million euros) limited the distributable annual loss to 39,500 million francs (39,676 million euros).
The announced loss represents the worst result of the Swiss National Bank since its foundation in 1906 and, in accordance with the provisions of the National Bank Law, “prevents a distribution for the fiscal year 2022”, which affects both the payment of dividends to the shareholders of the BNS as to the distribution for the Confederation and the cantons.
In this way, the Swiss central bank will stop distributing an annual dividend for the second time in its history, something that had only happened before in 2013, when it closed the year in ‘red numbers’.
The Swiss monetary institution specified that its 2022 results reflect the negative evolution of the markets, with losses of 131,500 million francs (132,085 million euros) due to its exposure to currencies, as well as another 1,000 million francs (1,004 million euros). ) for their positions in the Swiss currency.
In 2021, by contrast, the Swiss National Bank had registered a positive result of 25,700 million francs (25,814 million euros) for its exposure to currencies and earnings of 1,100 million francs (1,105 million euros) for its positions in Swiss francs.
The SNB is incorporated as a special entity whose shares are listed on the standard domestic segment of the Swiss Stock Exchange. The institution’s majority shareholders are public entities, including the Swiss cantons and their respective cantonal banks.