By Joshua Kirby
The Swiss National Bank recovered to a sizeable profit in the first months of the year as the alpine nation's currency weakened, reversing some of the heavy losses booked over the past couple of years.
The central bank made a profit of 58.8 billion Swiss francs ($64.25 billion) between January and March, it said Thursday, with earnings from foreign-currency positions nearly doubling on year to some CHF52.40 billion.
The bank's losses on franc positions conversely widened to around CHF2.42 billion. The franc has weakened considerably this year, standing at 91 centimes a dollar as of Thursday compared with 84 centimes at the start of the year.
The SNB in March became the first major central bank among rich nations to cut interest rates this year following a historic cycle of rate rises across the globe, lowering its policy rate to 1.50% in a decision that sent the franc sliding.
The bank's first-quarter profit comes after two straight years of losses amid high rates and global economic turmoil.
The SNB in January said it wouldn't pay out any dividend for 2023 after losing more than CHF8 billion on its franc positions and a net CHF3 billion for the year, balanced by earnings on its foreign-currency and gold positions. In 2022, the bank lost CHF132.5 billion as the franc appreciated and a challenged market diminished the bank's income.
Write to Joshua Kirby at joshua.kirby@wsj.com; @joshualeokirby
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
04-25-24 0345ET
