Governing Board composition

The Swiss National Bank’s Governing Board comprises three members: the Chairman, the Vice Chairman and a Member. All three are voting members at every quarterly Monetary Policy Assessment. The small size of the Board makes the SNB the most concentrated of the central banks tracked by the Hawkometer — every individual reading carries weight.

The current Board tracked by the index is led by Chairman Martin Schlegel, alongside the Vice Chairman and Member.

Where the Board sits right now

Speaker-by-speaker scores

The SNB scatter is the most compact of any central bank tracked here. Variance is small and individual readings move together. The signal value of the Hawkometer at the SNB is therefore concentrated in shifts rather than absolute levels: when the entire Board moves a quarter-point in one direction, that is a meaningful signal.

Recent speeches and current shifts

Upcoming Board appearances

Set-piece events that move the SNB Hawkometer:

• Quarterly Monetary Policy Assessment press conference.
• Annual General Meeting of Shareholders speeches.
• University and chambers-of-commerce lectures in Zurich, Bern and Geneva.
• Money Market Event in Geneva and Zurich.

How this connects to rate decisions

The SNB has a unique policy framework: the Swiss policy rate is set with reference to inflation in the 0-2% range, and FX intervention is an explicit policy instrument alongside the rate. The Hawkometer is best read alongside the SNB’s published guidance on FX, since dovish or hawkish language about the policy rate frequently coexists with information about the willingness to intervene in currency markets.

Limitations specific to the SNB

• Smallest sample. With only three Board members and a quarterly meeting cadence, the SNB Hawkometer has the lowest resolution of any bank tracked here. Treat short-term swings cautiously.
• Multilingual delivery. The Board frequently speaks in German, French or Italian. We score the English version when published; small idiomatic effects are unavoidable.
• FX channel is not in the index. The Hawkometer scores rate-policy language only. SNB language about the franc and FX intervention is informative but is not captured here. See the SNB country page for a richer picture.

For the full scoring methodology and phrase library, see the Hawkometer methodology page.