Negativzinsen auf Girokontoguthaben bei der SNB – Eine rechtliche Betrachtung
In December 2014, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) announced that it would be imposing negative interest rates on sight deposit account balances at the SNB. In the context of such monetary policy instrument, it is important to differentiate clearly between negative interest the SNB currently applies to sight deposits and the wide-ranging capital controls witnessed during the 1970s which included a charge on bank deposits of non-domestic persons at Swiss banks. This article examines the legal basis of the SNB’s current negative interest rate policy and the legal parameters within which it operates. Under the SNB’s negative interest rate concept, a base amount of each account holder’s deposits is exempt from negative interest. The decision to introduce negative interest on sight deposits has had the desired effect on the interbank interest rate (three-month Libor), which has continued to decline.
