The Swiss National Bank on Wednesday announced that it was considerably reducing the number of sight deposit account holders who are exempt from negative interest rates.

Negative interest will now also apply to the sight deposit accounts held at the SNB by enterprises associated with the Confederation, including PUBLICA, the pension fund of the Confederation, the bank said in a statement.

The negative deposit rate applicable is currently at 0.75 percent.

The affected account holders can still enjoy the minimum exemption threshold of CHF 10 million, to which negative rates do not apply, the bank said.

Going forward, the only sight deposit accounts to be exempt from negative interest will be those of the central Federal Administration and the compensation funds for old age and survivors’ insurance, disability insurance and the fund for loss of earned income, the SNB said.

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