Swiss National Bank chief Philipp Hildebrand resigns over wife's currency trade.

Աշխարհ 10 January, 2012 11:55

The Telegraph - Switzerland's top central banker has been forced to resign after admitting he could not prove a controversial $500,000 (£324,067) currency trade made by his wife was done without his knowledge.

Philipp Hildebrand, chairman of the governing board of the Swiss National Bank, resigned on Monday with immediate effect, saying he could not provide "conclusive proof" to disprove he had not been aware of his wife's currency trade last August.

The SNB said in a statement that it regretted "this decision and the circumstances that gave rise to it". Thomas Jordan, vice chairman of the SNB, was announced as Mr Hildebrand's interim replacement.

The controversy over the foreign exchange trade by Kaysha Hildebrand centred on its closeness to a dramatic intervention by the SNB to cap the soaring value of the Swiss franc.

An investigation by PricewaterhouseCoopers for the SNB found that Mrs Hildebrand bought $504,000 of US dollars on August 15, a couple of weeks before the SNB placed a limit of the value of the franc.

A subsequent sale of the dollars on October 4 netted Mrs Hildebrand, who runs an international art business, a profit of about Sfr64,000 (£45,210).

Mrs Hildebrand said last week that her decision to sell the francs and buy dollars was motived by "the fact that it [the US dollar] was at a record low and was almost ridiculously cheap".

In a statement yesterday, she said she had "failed" her husband in "not considering the perception of a 'conflict of interest'".

"My husband is a man of the utmost integrity and I deeply regret that my actions might have led anyone to question this," she said.

Mrs Hildebrand had said her decision to trade was based on her experience as a finance professional. She had formerly worked for hedge fund Moore Capital as foreign exchange trader and it was whilst working at Moore 15 years ago that she met Mr Hildebrand, who was then employed by the firm.

In a series of disclosures on Monday, Mr Hildebrand revealed that he had made his own currency trades earlier in the year when he sold the family house and bought a new property. The PwC investigation found that Mr Hildebrand had lost money on both currency trades.

Sir Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, said he was "saddened" by the resignation of Mr Hildebrand, who had overseen the SNB throughout the financial crisis, including its intervention to rescue Swiss lender UBS.

"We all know that he is a man of total integrity, extraordinary ability and, most important of all, courage. Such people are rare. His country will miss him," said Mr King.

In Switzerland, there were calls for the resignation of Hansueli Raggenbass, the head of the SNB's supervisory council, as Mr Hildebrand's departure failed to stop political anger.