The SNB closes the half-year with a 25.2 billion profit

The Swiss National Bank closed the first half of 2026 with a profit of 25.2 billion francs. The result exceeds the estimates of UBS analysts, which ranged between 18 and 23 billion.

The two quarters moved very differently. The first closed with a loss of 0.5 billion, while the second produced a profit of 25.8 billion.

The largest contribution comes from foreign currency positions, which returned 31.7 billion. Within that item, securities and capital instruments account for 22.9 billion, interest for 6.7 billion and dividends for 1.7 billion. Exchange rate gains amount to 2.5 billion, while debt instruments record a loss of 1.7 billion.

Gold moves in the opposite direction and weighs negatively by 6.4 billion. The price fell from 110,919 francs per kilogram at the end of 2025 to 104,812 francs on 30 June 2026. Franc positions contribute 0.1 billion.

A result that cannot be planned

The National Bank itself notes that the result depends mainly on movements in gold, exchange rates and capital markets. Wide swings are therefore normal, as the comparison between the two quarters shows.

The point matters for public finances. In 2025 the institution recorded a profit of 26.1 billion and distributed 4 billion to the Confederation and the cantons.

That distribution is not, however, a revenue item like any other. It depends on variables no government controls and can fail to materialise in a negative year, as has already happened in the past.

For the cantons, prudence means treating these payments as an extraordinary contribution rather than a basis on which to build current spending. A budget that counts on a fixed share of the distribution passes to the following year a risk it has no means of steering.