As part of their standard monetary policy procedure the Swiss National Bank has amassed an equity portfolio valued well over chf 130 billion. According to some sources this makes the SNB the eighth largest public investors. Investing remains passive based on indices tracking. Investing is heavily skewed toward the US with 13F filed 31/03/2017 showing markets value of $80bn in 2534 securities.
SNB's Andrea Maechler has stated the SNB avoids banks to avoid conflict of interest. The SNB had begun to purchase stocks in 2005 after a change in Switzerland banking laws, which allow it to purchase assets outside of short term bonds. Maechler has stated that the bank has begun to vote by proxy in 2015. However, reviewing publicly-released speeches, there is scant guidance on voting procedures. While the SNB's holds are not concentrated, the natural size makes them a force. A fact not lost on activist investors.
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Yesterday in an open letter a group of NGOs called on the SNB (or proxyholders) to use its voting rights at the Annual Meeting of Chevron to “mitigate climate change and respect for human and environmental rights.” It then goes on to list the four proposals which they requested the SNB to vote in favour on.
At this point we have not heard a response from the SNB on this request. Today is XOM annual meeting of shareholders were the SNB is holding 15.56 million shares. It is unclear how the SNB will vote on the nine shareholder proposals, election of directors, executive compensations, etc. In the past the Fed and ECB has steered clear of owning single shares for just this conflict of interest. It will be interesting to see how the SNB will handle this issue.
This report has been prepared by Swissquote Bank Ltd and is solely been published for informational purposes and is not to be construed as a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell any currency or any other financial instrument. Views expressed in this report may be subject to change without prior notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by Swissquote Bank Ltd personnel at any given time. Swissquote Bank Ltd is under no obligation to update or keep current the information herein, the report should not be regarded by recipients as a substitute for the exercise of their own judgment.
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