ZURICH (Reuters) -The Swiss National Bank said on Monday it is raising the minimum reserve requirement for domestic banks and will therefore amend the National Bank Ordinance as of July 1.
“These adjustments will ensure that implementation of the SNB’s monetary policy remains effective and efficient,” the Swiss central bank said in a statement.
Liabilities arising from cancellable customer deposits, excluding tied pension provision, will in future be included in full in the calculation of the minimum reserve requirement, as is the case with the other relevant liabilities, it said.
This revokes the previous exception whereby only 20% of such liabilities counted towards the calculation, the bank added. The SNB is also raising the minimum reserve ratio from 2.5% to 4%.
Since sight deposits which are held by banks to meet minimum reserve requirements are not remunerated, the interest costs for the SNB will be reduced, the bank said, noting that the amendments will not affect its current monetary policy stance.
SNB Chairman Thomas Jordan had said in a newspaper interview in November that the bank was looking at whether it needed to raise banks’ minimum reserve requirements.
(Writing by Miranda MurrayEditing by Dave Graham)
