Swiss National Bank

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) is the central bank of Switzerland. It is responsible for Swiss monetary policy and for issuing Swiss franc banknotes.

The names of the institution in the four official languages of the country are: _de. Schweizerische Nationalbank; _fr. Banque Nationale Suisse; _it. Banca Nazionale Svizzera; _rm. Banca Naziunala Svizra.

The SNB is an Aktiengesellschaft under special regulations. About 55% of its shares are owned by public institutions like cantons and cantonal banks. The remaining shares are traded on the stock market. They are mostly owned by private individuals. The Swiss Confederation does not hold any shares.

Gold reserves

The SNB manages the official gold reserves of Switzerland, which as of 2008 amount to 1145 tonnes and are valued at 30.5 billion CHF.cite news|url=http://www.ebund.ch/artikel_549321.html|title=Schatz unterm Bundesplatz: Das Gold der Nationalbank|last=Schwendener|first=Pascal|date=25 July 2008|publisher=Der Bund|pages=18|language=German|accessdate=2008-07-27] The gold is believed to be stored in huge vaults beneath the Federal Square ("Bundesplatz") to the north of the federal Parliament building in Berne, but the SNB treats the location of the gold reserves as a secret. Independent confirmation of the gold's location was obtained by the Bernese newspaper "Der Bund" in 2008. It published a photograph of the bullion that a Keystone photographer was allowed to take at the SNB premises in Berne in 2001. "Der Bund" also quoted a retired official of the city's surveying office as saying that the gold vaults take up an area of roughly half the Federal Square and have a depth of dozens of meters, down to the level of the Aar river.

ee also

*Economy of Switzerland
*Swiss franc

References

External links

* [http://www.snb.ch Official site: Swiss National Bank]