Swiss National Bank

The Swiss National Bank is the central bank of Switzerland, founded under a 1905 federal law and beginning operations on June 20, 1907. It is the sole issuer of Swiss franc banknotes and sets Swiss monetary policy with price stability as its primary statutory objective. Unusually among central banks, the SNB is a joint-stock company listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange since 1907: roughly 78 percent of its shares are held by Swiss public entities, the cantons and cantonal banks chief among them, with the remainder in private hands, though the bank's own statutes cap any private shareholder's voting rights at 100 shares regardless of how many shares they actually hold, preserving public control over monetary policy despite the private listing.