La distribution des bénéfices de la Banque Nationale Suisse

Thomas von Ungern-Sternberg

Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'économie from Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, Département d’économie

Abstract: This paper studies the profit distribution of the Swiss National Bank (SNB). It is shown that the legislator clearly wanted to create a "lean" central bank, which was supposed to pay out the majority of its profits to the cantons and the federal government. The SNB has systematically avoided its obligation to pay out its profits, by adopting accounting procedures that are absolutely unique even among central banks. It has managed to accumulate not just a huge stock of gold (2'600 tons) but also foreign assets of the order of 50 billion Fr.. It has achieved only a very disappointing return on its investments. The SNB's policy of not distributing its profits is very hard to reconcile with the legal texts governing its activities, and clearly has not been in the best interest of the country.

Keywords: Swiss National Bank; profit distribution; accounting procedures (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E58 E59 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 27 pages
Date: 1997-09
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Published in Revue Economique et Sociale, 1997, pp. 179-202

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:lau:crdeep:9708

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