Swiss National Bank expects record annual profit of 54 bln Swiss francs

GENEVA, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Swiss National Bank (SNB) on Tuesday said that it would report a profit of some 54 billion Swiss francs (55 billion U.S. dollars) in 2017, the biggest in its history, according to provisional calculations.

The profit on foreign currency positions amounted to 49 billion francs, said Switzerland's central bank in a statement after a year in which the Swiss currency lost some of its previous strength gained three years, that economists had seen an impediment to economic profitability.

A valuation gain of 3 billion francs was recorded on gold holdings for 2017, it said, while the net result on Swiss franc positions amounted to 2 billion francs.

After taking into consideration the distribution reserve of 20 billion Swiss francs, the bank said net profit will be in the region of 69 billion Swiss francs.

This will allow a dividend payment of 15 francs for each share.

This corresponds to the legally stipulated maximum amount, as well as a profit distribution which will go to the Swiss Confederation and its 26 cantons, of 1 billion francs.

Switzerland and its cantons are also entitled to a supplementary distribution of 1 billion francs as the distribution reserve after appropriation of profit exceeds 20 billion francs.

The SNB said a detailed report on the annual result with definitive figures will be released on March 5 and its annual report will be published on March 22. Enditem