Swiss central bank vice chairman promoted to top job

Swiss central bank vice chairman Martin Schlegel will take over the institution's top job from Thomas Jordan, whose 12-year tenure included navigating the Covid pandemic and the Credit Suisse crisis, the government said Wednesday.

Schlegel, 47, who has been at the Swiss National Bank (SNB) since 2003 and has been at his current job since 2022, will take the position of chairman on October 1, the Federal Council said.

Jordan, chairman since 2012, had announced earlier this year that he would step down at the end of September.

The Federal Council said it "thanked Thomas Jordan for his many years of dedication and service".

"He led the Swiss National Bank in various difficult situations, including most recently the Covid-19 pandemic and the Credit Suisse crisis," the council said in a statement.

"Under his leadership, the SNB made a significant contribution to preventing damage to the country, the economy and the population, and to ensuring monetary stability, thanks to his considered approach and expertise."

The government, the SNB and regulators strongarmed the country's biggest bank, UBS, into taking over Credit Suisse last year to prevent the lender from collapsing and sparking a global financial crisis.

More recently, the SNB became in March the first major Western central bank to cut interest rates after hiking them in efforts to tame soaring inflation.

Jordan's announcement he was stepping down touched off a debate among economists concerning his replacement and reforming the central bank to include more women in leadership roles and green its holdings.

According to the central bank's own figures, women account for only around a third of the staff and only 17 percent of management posts, and only one woman had previously served as a full member on the bank's three-person governing board.

Along with the announcement of Schlegel's appointment, the SNB also said Petra Tschudin was promoted from being an alternate to full member of the governing board.