Speech by Mr Thomas Jordan, Chairman of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank, at the Vereinigung Basler Ökonomen, Basel, 24 October 2016.
Ladies and gentlemen
In January 2015, the Swiss National Bank discontinued the minimum interest rate against the euro, and at the same time lowered the interest rate on banks' sight deposits held at the SNB to -0.75%. Today - almost two years later - not only short-term interest rates, but yields on 10-year and even longer-dated Confederation bonds, are negative. Some corporate bonds in Swiss francs are now also negative yielding.