Ballooning balance sheet yields further ‘profit’ for SNB

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) today (October 31) revealed its profits for the first three quarters of the year grew to Sfr16.9 billion ($18.2 billion), up from Sfr6.5 billion in the first half of the year.

The largest proportion of the gains came from the SNB's foreign currency positions, which gave a net return of Sfr10.3 billion. The central bank also saw a return of Sfr6.2 billion on its gold holdings and Sfr94 million on Swiss franc positions.

Profits are somewhat higher than 2011, when the