The SNB Earned CHF 25 Billion in Six Months — Nearly All of It in Q2
The Swiss National Bank posted a CHF 25.2 billion profit in the first half of 2026, powered by equity gains on foreign currency holdings, with a falling gold price providing the only real drag.
The Swiss National Bank posted a profit of CHF 25.2 billion in the first half of 2026, driven almost entirely by a global equity rally that lifted the value of its foreign currency holdings. Those positions generated CHF 31.7 billion, with equity price gains alone accounting for CHF 22.9 billion of that total.
Interest income contributed CHF 6.7 billion, dividends brought in CHF 1.7 billion, and exchange rate movements added another CHF 2.5 billion. The half-year result nearly matches the CHF 26.1 billion the SNB earned across all of 2025.
Not all of it came smoothly. The first quarter produced a CHF 0.5 billion loss, meaning the entire half-year profit — and then some — was generated between April and June. The SNB earned CHF 25.8 billion in Q2 alone, comfortably beating UBS analysts’ prior estimates of CHF 18 to 23 billion for the full six months.
Gold was the drag. The SNB recorded a CHF 6.4 billion valuation loss on its gold holdings as the price per kilogram fell from CHF 110,919 to CHF 104,812. For a central bank whose balance sheet carries a substantial gold reserve, that is a straightforward mark-to-market hit — large enough to be visible, but nowhere near enough to offset what equity markets delivered.
Equity exposure, once a controversial addition to the SNB’s reserves strategy, delivered the bulk of that profit in six months. Gold — the traditional store of value — subtracted CHF 6.4 billion. Whether that trade continues to work as handsomely depends on which way markets head next quarter, but for the first half of 2026, it paid off decisively.