Swiss National Bank
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| Headquarters | Bern and Zurich |
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| Established | 16 January 1906 - 20 June 1907 |
| Chairman | Thomas Jordan |
| Central bank of | Switzerland |
| Currency |
Swiss Franc CHF (ISO 4217) |
| Website | www.snb.ch |
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) is the central bank of Switzerland, and is therefore responsible for the monetary policy of the nation of Switzerland and also for the issuing of Swiss franc banknotes.
The bank is otherwise known as: German: Schweizerische Nationalbank; French: Banque nationale suisse; Italian: Banca nazionale svizzera; Romansh: Banca naziunala svizra, which are the four official languages of the country.
The SNB is an aktiengesellschaft under special regulations, and has two head offices, one is in Bern and the other one in Zurich.
The bank formed as a result of the need for a reduction in the number of banks of issue, which numbered 53 sometime after 1826. In the 1874 revision of the Federal Constitution it was given the task to oversee laws concerning the issuing of banknotes. Then in 1891 the Federal Constitution was revised again to entrust the Confederation with sole rights to issue banknotes. The National Bank Law was enforced on 16 January 1906, and the Nationalbank began business activities on 20 June 1907, and is thought then founded sometime during either 1906 or 1907. SNB itself states that it was founded in 1907.
Sometime during World War I (1914-1917 ), the bank was instructed to release notes of a small denomination, for the first time, by the Federal Council of Switzerland.
The Bundesrat devalued the Swiss Franc during 1936, and as a result, there was made available to the Nationalbank, an amount of monies, which the bank subsequently stored in a Währungsausgleischsfonds reserve for the future, for usage in situations of emergency.
In 1981 the bank participated in research involving Orell Füssli and an optical research group named Landis and Gyr, of matters of banknote design.
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