Pictet On The Sudden Depreciation Of The Swiss Franc

Via Pictet, Following the recent fall of the Swiss franc against the euro, there were paradoxical comments on the opportunity on both moving the Swiss National Bank’s floor lower (say to 1.25 for example) or on abandoning it altogether (or moving it higher). We believe both options are very unlikely, at least in the coming months. Moving the floor lower would be a bad idea in our view. As we have seen, the extent of the franc’s overvaluation is quite debatable and the lower the floor, the quicker a monetary policy dilemma may emerge. Moreover, in the event renewed upward pressures on the franc occur once again, a lower floor may prove more costly in terms of FX interventions. In any case, the SNB was relatively clear recently in saying that it has no plan to move the floor. On the other hand, now that the euro is far higher than 1.20 francs, it could look tempting for the SNB to tak...