By John Revill
ZURICH (Reuters) -Swiss National Bank Chairman Thomas Jordan will step down in September, three years early, after more than a decade at the helm, during which the central bank has wrestled with crises including Credit Suisse (SIX:CSGN)'s collapse and a supercharged franc.
The 61-year-old said on Friday he felt now was right time to step aside from the SNB, which he joined in 1997. As chairman since January 2012 he has steered the central bank through possibly the most tumultuous period in its 117-year history.
"Since I was elected to the board on May 1, 2007, there has been virtually no quiet period. One crisis has followed the next," Jordan told a press conference.
Despite winning the battle against resurgent inflation, Jordan was criticised for the SNB's slow response to the unfolding crisis at Credit Suisse, which culminated in the collapse of Switzerland's second-biggest bank last year.
Jordan said he had been considering his departure for a while, but the Credit Suisse episode had not influenced his decision "in any way".
"I started some time ago to reflect about the timing ...and I came to the conclusion that now is a good time," he told Reuters in an interview.
"Today we have again re-established financial stability, we have re-established the price stability, so I think it's a good time for leaving office," he added.
Jordan said he was proud of having delivered price stability, with average inflation in Switzerland below 1% during his tenure.
His term, however, also brought calls for an overhaul in the central bank's governance, with critics saying too much power lies with Jordan, while not enough women have been promoted.
He declined to comment when asked whether a woman should replace him or whether the SNB should seek an outsider or an internal candidate as his replacement.
Potential successors could include Jordan's deputy Martin Schlegel, the SNB's current vice chairman, or Andrea Maechler, the SNB's first female governing board member who left the bank last year to join the Bank for International Settlements.
Renaud de Planta, senior partner at Swiss private bank Pictet, has also been mentioned.
The successor must be Swiss.
Though Jordan stands down before his term was due to end in 2027, he will be replaced in the conventional manner, with a nomination from the SNB's supervising bank council being submitted for approval to the Swiss cabinet.
The procedure allows for an outsider to be nominated.
Jordan, who had a heart operation in 2021, told reporters his health was not a factor in his decision to quit.
Asked what he would do next, Jordan said he had no plans and would be fully committed to the SNB until his departure at the end of September.
The Swiss franc eased against the euro after the announcement, with the single currency gaining 0.2% to reach its highest since November against the Swiss currency.
Jordan became a member of the central bank's interest rate-setting governing board just before the global financial crisis began unfolding in mid-2007 and became chairman when his predecessor Philipp Hildebrand was forced to step down after his wife was involved in euro and dollar transactions.
In 2020, the Swiss government re-appointed Jordan as chairman until 2027.
"He did a superb job and will be very difficult to replace," said Karsten Junius, an economist at J.Safra Sarasin. "But maybe the end of his era is also a chance to broaden decision-making at the SNB."
BOLD TECHNOCRAT
Seen by many as the epitome of a diligent technocrat, the Harvard-educated economics professor has not been afraid to take tough decisions.
In 2015 the SNB upended currency markets by suddenly scrapping the minimum exchange rate against the euro, a move which sent the safe-haven currency soaring.
In recent years, Jordan has focused on battling inflation, which although high in Swiss terms has been significantly lower than in other parts of the world.
Last year, he was involved in the SNB's provision of emergency liquidity to facilitate Credit Suisse's rescue takeover by its bigger rival UBS.
The SNB's early response to the crisis has come under fire, with critics saying the central bank was too slow and too cautious to react despite its concerns about the lender dating back as far as February 2020.
About six months before Credit Suisse was sold, Jordan wanted to inject 50 billion Swiss francs into the lender and nationalise it, Reuters reported in December, but was blocked by the government and the financial regulator.
Economists said Jordan, the architect of the SNB's ultra-loose monetary policy before changing tack by hiking rates in 2022, had been successful in his role.
Although instinctively cautious, Jordan did not shy away from unorthodox methods, such as introducing negative interest rates to counter the Swiss franc's strength when the safe haven currency was coming under massive appreciation pressure.
"The SNB is characterized by Thomas Jordan's way of thinking so there is unlikely to be much change of approach, at least for the foreseeable future," said UBS economist Alessandro Bee.
"Overall, he has done a very good job."
Stefan Gerlach, chief economist of Switzerland's EFG Bank and a member of the SNB Observatory, which campaigns for accountability at the central bank, said Jordan's departure still represented seismic change.
"Having been a board member since 2007 and with his indisputable expertise, Jordan has become the SNB."