| The Swiss National Bank is responsible for monetary policy in Switzerland. Under Art. 99 of the Federal Constitution, as an independent central bank it conducts a domestic and external monetary policy that serves the general interests of the country. The Bank is managed in conjunction with and under the supervision of the Confederation. Its functions and activities are defined in a special law, the National Bank
Act. The National Bank has Head Offices in Zurich and
Berne, as well as representative offices in various parts of
Switzerland.
The National Bank
Act provides the legal framework for the activities of the Swiss National Bank. It contains provisions on the National Bank as a joint-stock company, its organisation and its
tasks. As a joint-stock company incorporated under special public law, the National Bank is not, like other companies, allowed to lay down its own by-laws and have these approved by its
General Meeting of
Shareholders: instead, its activities are governed by legislation passed by Parliament.
The securities and foreign exchange which the National Bank purchases from the banks and pays for with money that it has created itself, i.e. with sight deposits, generate earnings. The National Bank covers its operating costs with these earnings and uses them to build up reserves for various risks. From the remaining net profit it pays its shareholders a dividend, the maximum amount of which is fixed by law. The rest passes to the Confederation and the cantons. Under the Constitution and the National Bank
Act the cantons receive two-thirds and the Confederation one-third.
The national consumer price index measures the average trend in prices for goods and services supplied to private households in Switzerland. This price index is calculated each month by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office. It is based on a basket of goods that reflects consumption by private households. The national consumer price index is used in Switzerland to measure inflation.
See National Bank's net profit.
The term used for a bank with a note-issuing monopoly. In Switzerland, this refers to the Swiss National Bank. Generally synonymous with central bank. Note-issuing or central banks are responsible for a country's monetary policy.
The sole right to issue a country's banknotes. In Switzerland the National Bank exercises the note-issuing monopoly. The central banks of the euro area have transferred their former note-issuing monopoly, which entitled them to issue their respective national currencies, to the European Central Bank (euro).
|
|  |
