It's official: for the first time, the SNB on Thursday released a «summary of the Discussion» from its quarterly monetary policy assessment conducted by the Governing Board.

Martin Schlegel, President of the Governing Board, had surprisingly announced in September that the SNB would change its communication policy in this regard – and justified this «taboo break» once again during the most recent assessment a month ago.

Not Just the Three Board Members

The now-published brief record refers to that meeting, where the SNB decided to keep the key interest rate unchanged.

According to the summary, on the first day of the assessment not only the three members of the Governing Board (Schlegel, Antoine Martin and Petra Tschudin) participated, but also the four deputy board members and several other staff members. During the final deliberations on the second day, only the board members, their deputies, and a small group of SNB experts were present.

More Understandable and Transparent

In terms of content, the summary - structured into six sections, «Financial Markets», «Monetary Indicators», «International Environment«, «Swiss Economic Situation», «Swiss Economic Outlook» and «Monetary Policy Decision» offers little new information compared to what was presented at the assessment itself or in the «Monetary Policy Report» in the quarterly bulletin.

However, it does illustrate which questions were relevant to the Governing Board and what was discussed (and, indirectly, what was not). This increases the transparency and comprehensibility of the board’s decisions. Therefore, the SNB’s new communication policy is to be welcomed, even if, as expected, the concrete gain in insight remains modest.