The Effectiveness of the Interventions of the Swiss National Bank - An Event-Study Analysis

We use the event-study methodology to analyze the effectiveness of the foreign exchange market interventions conducted by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) during the period from 1986 through 1995. We measure the effectiveness of the interventions of the SNB in terms of their effect on exchange rate dynamics. We find some evidence that the interventions of the SNB to strengthen the Swiss franc had an impact on exchange rate dynamics. However, the significance of this effect depends in general upon the effectiveness criterion and the length of the event window we use to apply the event-study methodology.