Swiss Weekly Sight Deposits (w/e Oct 30) Total: 460.165bln (prev. 434.743bln); Domestic 436.893bln (prev. 434.743bln)

Swiss Weekly Sight Deposits (w/e Oct 30) Total: 460.165bln (prev. 434.743bln); Domestic 436.893bln (prev. 434.743bln)

A jump in total sight deposits of this size is the standard signature of SNB franc selling: when the Bank buys foreign currency to lean against CHF strength, the settlement credit lands in counterparties' sight deposit accounts, so the weekly print functions as a proxy for intervention in the absence of timelier disclosure. Episodes of this kind have historically clustered around periods of rapid franc appreciation, safe haven inflows or euro weakness, and have tended to come in sustained sequences rather than one-off weeks, so the follow-on prints matter more than the single reading. One wrinkle in the release is that the domestic figure is quoted as unchanged and equal to the prior total, which points either to a reporting quirk or to the increase sitting in the non-domestic component; the split between the two has mattered in past cycles for judging whether flows are domestic banking or foreign official and custodial in nature. The pattern to watch is whether elevated totals persist across subsequent weekly prints, which would indicate an ongoing stance rather than smoothing of a single settlement, and how the series sits against EUR/CHF behaviour over the same window. Confirmation of intent only comes later, through quarterly intervention disclosures and SNB commentary, so the deposit series is the nearest thing to real time evidence until then.