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Bloomberg
Switzerland’s government opposes a measure that would forbid the central bank, pension funds and foundations from investing in munitions-makers, saying it wouldn’t
be effective.
The pending popular initiative would make it impossible for the Swiss National Bank from investing in a market-neutral way and would also create a precedent for other restrictions the government said in a statement.
The SNB, which has 20 percent of its foreign currency reserves worth some 760 billion francs ($762 billion) invested equities, is frequently the target of such reform proposals, with voters in recent years rejecting measures revolutionising its role in the banking system and forcing it to hold a fixed portion of its assets in gold.
No date for a national vote has yet been set for the defense company measure, which would ban the SNB and other entities from holding shares in firms that derive more than 5 percent of annual revenue from weapons production. It would also disallow granting loans to such companies.