SNB Spent Nearly $6 Billion on Currency Interventions Last Week

(Bloomberg) --

The Swiss National Bank appears to have waged the largest barrage of foreign exchange interventions in four years as it sought to control its haven currency and provide liquidity to the market.

The amount of cash commercial banks hold with the central bank -- called sight deposits -- rose by 5.8 billion francs ($5.9 billion) last week, data on the SNB’s website on Monday showed. SNB watchers scrutinize consider sight deposit statistics an early indicator for intervention activity.

The surge in deposits suggest the SNB has already started to follow through on its threat last week to sell the franc more aggressively to push back against the currency’s appreciation. The purchases of foreign currency also boost liquidity in the interbank market.

A spokeswoman for the SNB declined to comment.

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