SNB Foreign-Currency Holdings Hit Record on Intervention
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The Swiss central bank’s foreign-currency reserves surged to a record in May as the euro region’s increasing turmoil forced policy makers to step up their defense of the franc floor.
Currency holdings rose to 303.8 billion Swiss francs ($318 billion) from 237.6 billion francs in April, according to a statement published on the Swiss National Bank’s website today. Walter Meier, a spokesman at the SNB in Zurich, said a “large part” of the increase was due to currency purchases to defend the minimum exchange rate of 1.20 francs per euro.