BERN: Sight deposits at the Swiss National Bank climbed to a record last week, the Sight deposits of domestic banks hit 385.9 billion francs ($404 billion) in the week ended April 24, compared with 384 billion a week earlier, the SNB said on its website on Monday. Sight deposits are the cash commercial banks hold at the central bank. In the past, they’ve increased when the SNB waged interventions to weaken the franc against the euro.
“While the increase is smaller than during periods when the SNB was enforcing the minimum exchange rate, we do not rule out recent foreign currency purchases to weaken the Swiss franc,” said Maxime Botteron, economist at Credit Suisse Group AG in Zurich. SNB spokeswoman Silvia Oppliger declined to comment on the change.
The franc climbed to 1.0234 per euro on April 20, its highest level since January. It traded at 1.0374 at 10:11 a.m. in Zurich on Monday, little changed from the previous close.
Even with the cap on the franc of 1.20 per euro gone, SNB policy makers have repeatedly pledged to wage interventions to ensure adequate monetary conditions. SNB President Thomas Jordan reiterated that stance at the SNB’s annual general meeting last week.
