- Thomas Jordan, the Swiss National Bank President
October was a good month for Swiss policymakers, who seek a weaker Franc, as Swiss Franc depreciated 0.6% against the shared currency and 0.2% versus the U.S. Dollar. In contrast, Swiss National Bank's foreign-currency reserves climbed higher over the same period and due to the same reason.
On Thursday the SNB said its holdings stood at 434.7 billion francs in October, up from a revised 433 billion a month earlier, slightly higher from 434 billion estimated by analysts. Still the figure is below the all-time high of 444 billion recorded in May. During the third quarter the SNB held 48% of its reserves in Euro, 27% in Dollars, while the proportion of equities soared to 16%. The remainder of the reserves are mostly held in highly rate government securities. The Swiss Franc is considered as a haven among investors, hence in times of heightened market stress and concerns over Eurozone's economy, the Franc almost reached parity with the Euro in August 2011. Since then the SNB has amasses record foreign-exchange reserves through its market intervention in order to defend the cap of 1.20 per Euro seeking to prevent deflation and boost economic growth. However, there was no need for any intervention for more than a year, while SNB's President Thomas Jordan is constantly reiterating his pledge to defend the cap for as long as it is needed.
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