The Swiss National Bank (SNB; German: Schweizerische Nationalbank; French: Banque nationale suisse; Italian: Banca nazionale svizzera; Romansh: Banca naziunala svizra) is the central bank of Switzerland, responsible for the nation's monetary policy and the sole issuer of Swiss franc banknotes.

[8] Sometime during World War I (1914–1917)[9] the bank was instructed to release notes of small denomination, for the first time, by the Federal Council of Switzerland.

[12] There is controversy over the role of the Swiss National Bank in the transfer of Nazi gold during World War II.

A study by the U.S. Department of State in 1997 notes that the bank "must have known that some portion of the gold it was receiving from the Reichsbank was looted from occupied countries".

[19][20] Within a few years, SNB was able to free itself from UBS's illiquid securities, making a CHF 5 billion profit in the process.

[29][30][31] Despite the intervention, a bank run occurred that week, causing SNB and the Swiss government to fast-track UBS taking over Credit Suisse.

[32] To support the acquisition of Credit Suisse by UBS, the SNB offered liquidity assistance of up to CHF 100 billion.

[33] The basic governing principles of the National Bank are contained within Article 99 of the Federal Constitution, which deals with matters of monetary policy.

These are settled in the Swiss Interbank Clearing (SIC) system via sight deposit accounts held with the National Bank.

These engender confidence in the Swiss franc, help to prevent and overcome crises and may be utilized for interventions in the foreign exchange market.

Together with the federal authorities, the National Bank participates in international monetary cooperation and provides technical assistance.

[40] According to its guidelines, it "avoids shares in companies which produce internationally banned weapons, seriously violate fundamental human rights or systematically cause severe environmental damage".

[41] Since 2016, environmental associations and academics criticize the fact that these investments do not take into account the Paris Climate Agreement (article 2) and are responsible for at least 50 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions in 2017.

Owing to the SNB's public mandate, the powers of the shareholders' meeting are not as extensive as in joint-stock companies under private law.

The Governing Board consists of three members: The SNB manages the official gold reserves of Switzerland, which as of 2008 amount to 1,145 tonnes and are valued at 30.5 billion CHF.

[50] Der Bund also quoted a retired official of the city's surveying office as saying that the gold vaults take up an area of roughly half the Federal Square and have a depth of dozens of meters, down to the level of the Aar river.

The SNB in 1980 acquired the New Castle of Gerzensee, a historical property built around 1700,[53] and repurposed it as a training and conference center that opened in 1986.