The Swiss National Bank (SNB) is Switzerland's central bank, responsible for monetary policy and the stewardship of the Swiss Franc (CHF). Founded in 1907, the SNB operates as an independent institution under the Swiss National Bank Act, with a mandate to ensure price stability while taking the broader economic situation into account. Because Switzerland is a small, open economy deeply integrated into global capital markets, CHF is one of the world's premier safe-haven currencies — and SNB policy decisions carry outsized importance for traders monitoring global risk sentiment and cross-currency rate differentials.
This guide covers the key macroeconomic indicators published by the SNB and the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO) that drive CHF exchange rates, and how to access the underlying data programmatically for systematic trading and macro analysis.
SNB Signal Board
Policy Rate
The SNB policy rate sets the floor for CHF money-market rates and anchors carry positions across EUR/CHF and USD/CHF.
Inflation Watch
Swiss CPI tends to run well below other G10 economies. The SNB's tolerance for sub-2% inflation shapes its willingness to cut — or hold at zero.
Sight Deposits
Weekly SNB sight deposit data is the primary real-time proxy for FX intervention — a surge signals the SNB is selling CHF to cap appreciation.
Balance Sheet
The SNB holds one of the world's largest FX reserve portfolios relative to GDP, a direct legacy of its sustained intervention programme.
Monetary Policy: The SNB Policy Rate
The SNB sets its monetary policy through a policy interest rate — the rate at which it is willing to lend or accept deposits in the overnight money market. The SNB Governing Board meets quarterly to assess the rate, publishing a policy statement alongside updated conditional inflation forecasts. Unlike the US Fed or ECB, the SNB operates with a three-month SARON (Swiss Average Rate Overnight) band as its operational target, adjusting it to steer short-term rates in line with the policy objective.
For FX markets, the policy rate is the foundation of CHF carry dynamics. Switzerland has historically operated with rates at or near zero — or even negative, as was the case from 2015 to 2022 — making CHF a traditional funding currency for carry trades. When the SNB lifted rates into positive territory in 2022 alongside the global tightening cycle, it represented a structural shift in the CHF carry landscape that rippled through EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, and CHF/JPY. The SNB policy rate series is available via the FXMacroData API at /api/chf/policy_rate. For schema details, see the CHF policy rate docs.
Inflation: CPI & Core CPI
Swiss Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) is published monthly by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). The SNB's price stability objective is defined as annual CPI inflation below 2% — a ceiling, rather than a symmetric target as used by many other G10 central banks. This asymmetric framing means the SNB has historically been as concerned with deflation as it is with inflation, and has demonstrated a willingness to allow CPI to drift slightly negative without triggering aggressive easing, as long as medium-term price expectations remain stable.
Swiss CPI tends to track imported inflation closely, given Switzerland's reliance on imported goods and energy. A strong CHF mechanically suppresses import prices and therefore headline CPI, which is one reason the SNB monitors EUR/CHF with particular attention — franc appreciation directly reduces inflationary pressure and can trigger policy responses. The monthly CPI series is available at the CHF inflation endpoint.
Core CPI — which strips out energy and unprocessed food — provides a cleaner read on domestic price dynamics, filtering out the external shocks that drive Swiss headline CPI volatility. When core inflation diverges meaningfully from headline, it signals whether price pressure is domestically generated (wages, services) or imported (energy, traded goods). The core inflation series is accessible at the CHF core inflation endpoint.
CHF Appreciation and Disinflation
When EUR/CHF falls — meaning the franc strengthens — Swiss import prices decline and CPI tends to soften. This feedback loop means SNB policy analysis cannot be separated from FX rate monitoring. A strong CHF effectively tightens monetary conditions even without a rate change.
Negative Inflation Tolerance
Switzerland experienced prolonged periods of negative CPI between 2015 and 2017 without triggering emergency SNB easing. Understanding the SNB's asymmetric tolerance for below-zero inflation is essential when modelling CHF rate expectations and carry risk.
FX Intervention: Sight Deposits
One of the most distinctive features of SNB monetary policy is its active use of foreign exchange intervention to manage CHF strength. When the franc appreciates excessively — particularly against the EUR — the SNB sells CHF and purchases foreign currencies (primarily EUR and USD) to lean against safe-haven inflows and cap CHF strength. The scale of this intervention is tracked through the weekly sight deposit data published by the SNB.
Sight deposits represent bank reserves held at the SNB. When the SNB sells CHF in the FX market, the proceeds are credited to commercial banks as additional sight deposits, causing the aggregate sight deposit total to rise. For systematic traders, a sudden and large weekly increase in sight deposits is a reliable real-time signal that the SNB has intervened in the FX market — even before any official communication. The sight deposits series is available via the CHF sight deposits endpoint.
SNB Balance Sheet & FX Reserves
The SNB operates one of the world's largest foreign exchange reserve portfolios relative to the size of its domestic economy. Built up through decades of intervention — most dramatically after the removal of the EUR/CHF floor in January 2015 — the SNB's balance sheet holds reserves denominated primarily in EUR, USD, GBP, JPY, and other major currencies, with a significant equity allocation that makes it behave partly like a sovereign wealth fund.
The SNB publishes its monthly balance sheet, showing total assets, reserve composition, and gold holdings. For macro analysts, movements in the SNB balance sheet total provide a medium-term view of intervention scale and the SNB's capacity to sustain currency management. A balance sheet that has grown rapidly relative to GDP signals sustained intervention pressure. The SNB balance sheet series is available at the CHF SNB balance sheet endpoint.
Equity Exposure
A notable fraction of the SNB's reserves is invested in global equities. This means SNB financial results — and by extension its capacity to pay dividends to Swiss cantons — are directly linked to global equity market performance, an unusual feature for a central bank balance sheet.
2015 EUR/CHF Floor Removal
When the SNB abandoned its 1.20 EUR/CHF floor in January 2015, CHF surged by up to 30% in minutes — one of the most violent FX moves in modern G10 history. The balance sheet trajectory before that event, and the subsequent intervention scale, illustrates why monitoring SNB reserve accumulation matters for tail-risk positioning.
Economic Growth: GDP
Swiss GDP is published quarterly by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and provides the primary read on the Swiss business cycle. As a highly export-oriented economy — with pharmaceutical goods, precision instruments, and financial services dominating the export mix — Swiss GDP is closely correlated with global trade conditions, particularly demand from Switzerland's largest trading partner, the European Union.
A weakening Swiss growth outlook tends to reinforce expectations for SNB easing or sustained intervention to prevent CHF from tightening conditions further. Conversely, resilient GDP in a low-inflation environment gives the SNB room to hold rates without sparking capital inflows. The quarterly GDP series for CHF is accessible via the CHF GDP endpoint.
Labour Market: Employment
Switzerland maintains one of the lowest unemployment rates in the OECD, reflecting a highly flexible labour market and structural labour shortages in key sectors. The SNB monitors employment conditions as a secondary input to its inflation and growth assessment, rather than as a primary mandate driver — unlike the US Fed's explicit dual mandate.
The FSO publishes quarterly employment and labour force data, including total employment, full-time equivalent employment, and part-time employment. Sustained employment growth signals domestic demand resilience, which can feed through to services-sector wage pressure. The employment series are available at the CHF employment endpoint, full-time employment, and part-time employment docs.
Government Bond Yields: Swiss Confederation Bonds
Swiss Confederation bonds — the benchmark CHF sovereign debt instrument — are among the lowest-yielding in the world, reflecting both Switzerland's impeccable fiscal position and the persistent safe-haven demand for CHF-denominated assets. The yield curve spans maturities from 1-year through to 30-year, with the 2-year and 10-year tenors receiving the most attention in rates markets.
The 2-year Swiss Confederation yield is most sensitive to SNB rate expectations and is the primary anchor for CHF carry trade calculations. The 10-year yield blends long-run growth, inflation, and term-premium expectations, and is the reference point for EUR/CHF rate-differential models. Because Swiss yields have spent extended periods in negative territory, their relationship with CHF can be non-linear — negative yields attract safe-haven capital precisely because investors are willing to pay for CHF protection during risk-off episodes.
The full Swiss bond yield curve — from 1Y to 30Y — is accessible through the FXMacroData API. See the CHF 2Y bond docs, 5Y bond docs, and 10Y bond docs for schema details.
Negative Yield Safe-Haven
Swiss bonds at negative yields still attract global capital during risk-off events — investors effectively pay a premium for CHF exposure as a crisis hedge. This means CHF can strengthen even as bond yields fall, disconnecting the typical yield–currency relationship seen in other G10 pairs.
EUR–CHF Yield Spread
The 10-year spread between German Bunds and Swiss Confederation bonds is a medium-term anchor for EUR/CHF. When Bund yields rise relative to Swiss bonds — as in tightening cycles — EUR/CHF typically finds upward support, reducing SNB intervention pressure.
Consumer Confidence
The SECO Consumer Confidence survey is published quarterly and captures Swiss household sentiment on current economic conditions and expectations for the year ahead. While Switzerland's domestic consumption base is smaller relative to GDP than in large economies, consumer confidence serves as a useful leading indicator for private spending and import demand — both relevant inputs to the SNB's domestic inflation and growth assessment.
Sharp deterioration in consumer confidence — particularly during periods of EUR/CHF weakness or global macro shocks — often precedes SNB commentary on downside risks to growth, providing an early warning signal for potential policy accommodation. The series is available at the CHF consumer confidence endpoint.
Accessing Swiss National Bank Data for Analysis
All of the indicators covered in this guide — from the SNB policy rate and SARON to Swiss CPI, GDP, Confederation bond yields, sight deposits, and the SNB balance sheet — are sourced from official Swiss publications including the SNB Data Portal, the FSO Time Series Database, SECO, and SIX Swiss Exchange. They are made available in a standardised, time-series format through the FXMacroData API.
For quantitative analysts building CHF models, having programmatic access to these series eliminates the overhead of navigating multiple Swiss government portals. Whether you are running intervention-signal strategies, modelling EUR/CHF carry dynamics, or monitoring Swiss macro momentum as a safe-haven overlay, the full suite of SNB indicators is available starting at /api/chf/policy_rate.
Quick Workflow for CHF Macro Traders
- Anchor directional bias with the SNB policy rate trend and SARON for near-term path expectations (policy rate docs, risk-free rate docs).
- Monitor weekly sight deposits for real-time intervention signals — a surge flags SNB selling CHF (sight deposits docs).
- Validate the inflation regime with CPI and core CPI to judge whether CHF strength is feeding disinflation and increasing pressure on the SNB to ease (CPI docs, core CPI docs).
- Size positions with the EUR–CHF 10Y bond spread as the rate-differential anchor and overlay the SNB balance sheet trend as an intervention capacity gauge (10Y bond docs, balance sheet docs).
Data sourced from the Swiss National Bank Data Portal, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), and SIX Swiss Exchange. For questions or support, contact info@fxmacrodata.com.
