Ein neuer Verfassungsartikel für die Schweizerische Nationalbank

This paper critically examines the proposed new constitutional article for the Swiss National Bank. The following points are emphasised : a) The SNB distributes only a very small fraction of its profits (as compared to other national banks). b) The SNB holds an exceptionally important and undiversified portfolio of foreign exchange reserves. It clearly wants to pursue this strategy of accumulating foreign government debt, at the expense of the tax- payer. c) In the past it has earned only a very low rate of return on its assets. d) A substantial part of the assets held by the SNB are not required for the purposes of monetary policy, and should be managed by professional asset managers. e) It would be an error to allow the SNB to concentrate itself solely on controlling inflation.Swiss National Bank; asset accumulation; asset management; profit distribution; gold reserves; the role of monetary policy