Switzerland Weathers the Superstrong Franc

It was in a small, wood-paneled boardroom overlooking Lake Zurich that Thomas Jordan and his colleagues at the Swiss National Bank made a decision that caught global markets unawares, infuriated Swiss industrial leaders, and tipped the economy dangerously close to recession.

Sitting in that same room a year later, Jordan, president of the SNB, the nation’s central bank, is calm as he looks back on his call to scrap a cap of 1.20 francs to the euro. The bank had kept it in place since 2011 in an attempt to control the Swiss currency’s runaway strength and avoid further damage to the country’s exports, which make up more than 60 percent of gross domestic product. “We have no regrets because we believe it was exactly the right decision at exactly the right time,” he says of the momentous step, announced at 10:30 a.m. Central European Time on Jan. 15, 2015. “Sometimes you have to take tough decisions.’’