The embattled head of the Swiss National Bank, Philipp Hildebrand, has announced his resignation amid a controversy over private currency deals.
His resignation is with immediate effect according to a press release by the central bank on Monday.
The statement came just hours before Hildebrand, as well as the president of the SNB board, Hansueli Raggenbass, and the finance minister, Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, were scheduled to attend a meeting of a parliamentary committee.
Hildebrand argued that the currency transactions had been carried out by his wife without his explicit consent, and they did not breach any regulations.
The government has repeatedly backed Hildebrand and Widmer-Schlumpf had called for a thorough investigation.
The SNB board on Saturday announced a tightening of internal good governance rules for private currency deals.
The rightwing Swiss People’s Party had demanded Hildebrand’s resignation, as well as a wide-ranging parliamentary inquiry and a special session of parliament.
No other major party supports the demands. However, the bank board has been criticised for apparently neglecting its role as supervisory authority.
The controversy was triggered by an employee of a commercial bank last month. He copied documents which ended up in the hands of senior members of the People’s Party.
At the end of 2011, a rumour reached the media that SNB chairman Philipp Hildebrand had used his insider knowledge for personal gain.
It was alleged that he tipped off his wife in advance about the SNB’s September exchange rate ceiling policy to allow her to profit from a franc-dollar transaction.
Two separate investigations have cleared Hildebrand of wrong-doing, but the affair has led to calls for the personal finances of SNB directors to be monitored more closely.
Two Sunday newspapers have alleged that Swiss People’s Party strongman Christoph Blocher (a former justice minister) had alerted the government to the supposed insider trades.
The articles also suggested that Blocher may have produced stolen bank data as evidence. Blocher has refused to comment on the allegations.