Entscheidungsgrundlagen für ein neues Nationalbankgesetz

The paper studies the profit distribution and portfolio management of the Swiss National Bank in comparison with the behavior of other European central banks. It is shown that the SNB's behavior is unique in a number of respects : Relatively to the countries size, it holds the largest gold reserves, the largest amount of unhedged dollar assets, and the largest amount of foreign assets. Futhermore, the SNB violates the spirit of the law and constitution by paying out only a very small share of its profits. The reture it has earned on its investments is unsatisfactory. We conclude that the law should be revised, the country should gradually sell its gold reserves, and the countries' assets shoud be invested more intelligently, preferably by private institutions.