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WFN QUICK BRIEF · UNDER 1 MIN
The short version
MODE 2 OF 2
What the source establishes
The SNB’s balance-sheet FAQ says that changes in foreign-exchange reserves cannot automatically be attributed to foreign-currency purchases or sales. It identifies exchange-rate fluctuations and changes in bond and equity prices as additional influences. The accounts are presented in Swiss francs. Swiss National Bank — questions and answers on the balance sheet ↗
What the distinction changes
Suppose, purely as an illustration, that a central bank holds an unchanged quantity of foreign assets while the reporting currency appreciates. Their domestic-currency value can fall without an asset sale. Securities-price gains can also offset a valuation decline, concealing the underlying components in the aggregate.
Questions for the next review
Compare the relevant official transaction disclosure with reserve-stock data over matching periods. Keep currency valuation, asset-price valuation and transactions separate where the records permit. Do not attach a precise intervention date or volume to an unexplained monthly balance-sheet change.
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WFN STORY COMPASS
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EDITORIAL ILLUSTRATIONWFN EDITION · 15 OCTOBER 2026
Editorial noteSource-based explanation with original WFN analysis. Historical records retain their original periods. Numerical examples are labelled as illustrative, not observed market data. AI-generated conceptual illustration; it does not document an actual event or product interface.
WFN REALITY LEDGER
What is on the record?
Primary-source explainer
Primary-source explainer; examples are explicitly illustrative
Primary record / reference periodSNB balance-sheet explanation checked 15 October 2026
The cited material establishes the documented method or historical record. WFN analysis and illustrative calculations are labelled separately.
The SNB explicitly warns against reading reserve changes as purchases or sales. Exchange rates and securities prices also affect the stock.
01 · VERIFIED RECORD
What the source establishes
The SNB’s balance-sheet FAQ says that changes in foreign-exchange reserves cannot automatically be attributed to foreign-currency purchases or sales. It identifies exchange-rate fluctuations and changes in bond and equity prices as additional influences. The accounts are presented in Swiss francs. Swiss National Bank — questions and answers on the balance sheet ↗
The same explanation distinguishes monthly balance-sheet items from quarterly interim results and the detailed annual report. Those publications offer different views and reporting intervals. A stock observation and a transaction measure should therefore retain their own labels. Swiss National Bank — questions and answers on the balance sheet ↗
02 · WFN EDITORIAL ANALYSIS
What the distinction changes
Suppose, purely as an illustration, that a central bank holds an unchanged quantity of foreign assets while the reporting currency appreciates. Their domestic-currency value can fall without an asset sale. Securities-price gains can also offset a valuation decline, concealing the underlying components in the aggregate.
For franc coverage, the useful discipline is to identify what is observed and what is inferred. A reserve-stock move can prompt a question about intervention; it cannot on its own answer that question. Publishing the inference as a confirmed transaction would overstate the evidence.
03 · WHAT TO CHECK NEXT
Questions for the next review
Compare the relevant official transaction disclosure with reserve-stock data over matching periods. Keep currency valuation, asset-price valuation and transactions separate where the records permit. Do not attach a precise intervention date or volume to an unexplained monthly balance-sheet change.
