Federal Council appoints Martin Schlegel as new SNB Chairman

Federal Council appoints Martin Schlegel as new SNB Chairman Keystone-SDA

The Federal Council has filled the management positions at the Swiss National Bank (SNB). As expected, Martin Schlegel will become Chairman and Petra Tschudin will become a new member of the Governing Board.

Antoine Martin will take over Schlegel’s previous post of Vice-Chairman. Schlegel succeeds Thomas Jordan. Jordan has headed the SNB since April 2012 and will step down at the end of September 2024. Schlegel is considered Jordan’s “foster son” and was the logical successor for many observers.

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Martin Schlegel has worked at the SNB since 2003. He rose through the ranks until he was elected to the SNB’s three-member Governing Board as Vice Chairman in 2022.

Farewell after more than 27 years

Biel native, Thomas Jordan, joined the SNB in 1997 and was appointed a member of the Governing Board in May 2007. He then took over the leadership of the SNB in April 2012, which was in crisis following the resignation of Philipp Hildebrand. Hildebrand had been forced to resign due to controversial foreign exchange transactions by his then wife.

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The lifting of the Swiss franc-euro minimum interest rate limit in 2015, introduced by his predecessor Hildebrand in 2011, was one of the outstanding events during Jordan’s lead. With the introduction of negative interest rates in 2014 and their abolition in 2022, he made other wise decisions.

The Covid-10 pandemic and the provision of liquidity for the SME loan program also took place during his term of office. The end of the Jordan era was marked by the collapse of Credit Suisse and its takeover by UBS.

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Adapted from German by DeepL/amva

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