Suisse Interest Rate

The SNB implements its monetary policy by fixing a target range for the reference interest rate, the Libor (London Interbank Offered Rate) for three-month interbank loans in Swiss francs. The target range normally has a bandwidth of 100 basis points (one percentage point) and, as a rule, the SNB holds the Libor in the middle of the defined range. As interest rates increasingly approached zero in the wake of the financial crisis, the Libor target range was narrowed. From 6 September 2011 to 15 January 2015, the main focus of implementation was on the minimum exchange rate of CHF 1.20 per euro, which the SNB enforced during this period. On 18 December 2014, the SNB decided to impose an interest rate of -0.25% on sight deposit account balances. With the announcement of a negative interest rate, the target range for the Libor was taken into negative territory for the first time, and extended to its usual width of 1 percentage point. On 15 January 2015, the SNB lowered the interest rate on sight deposits to -0.75% and moved the target range downwards to between -1.25% and -0.25%. Negative interest has applied since 22 January 2015.