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ZURICH, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The Swiss National Bank
will likely report a full-year profit of around 80 billion Swiss francs ($87.79 billion) for 2024, the central bank said on Thursday, boosted by booming equity markets, rising gold prices and a stronger U.S. dollar.
The expected profit, according to provisional data released earlier in the day, will come after the SNB logged an annual loss of 3.2 billion francs in 2023 and a record loss of 132 billion francs in 2022. The Swiss central bank is due to publish its definitive earnings on March 3.
The 2024 figure was in line with a forecast by UBS economists, and will allow a payout to SNB shareholders, as well as the country's central and regional governments for the first time in three years.
In 2024, the SNB made a profit of 67 billion francs from its foreign currency holdings - boosted by strong equity markets - with the MSCI World Index gaining 17%.
The central bank has investments in tech majors such as Apple , Microsoft , and e-commerce giant Amazon
, among others.
The U.S. dollar - the currency in which the SNB holds 39% of its 744 billion francs worth of foreign currency assets - strengthening last year also boosted the contribution to SNB when the share valuations and dividends are converted into francs.
The SNB also made a valuation gain of 21.2 billion francs on the 1.04 million metric tons of gold it holds, as the precious metal's price surged more than 27% in 2024.
($1 = 0.9113 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by John Revill, Editing by Friederike Heine and Rashmi Aich)
((John.Revill@thomsonreuters.com; +41 41 528 36 37; Reuters Messaging: john.revill.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
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