The Swiss National Bank (SNB), one of the largest investors in equities globally, has sold its stake in US oil giant Chevron, amid growing political pressures on central banks to divest from fossil fuels.
The bank, which acts as the central bank and fulfils a macroprudential role in Swiss financial markets, has over the years grown a balance sheet of several hundred billion Swiss francs, largely due to growing investor demand for the franc as a presumed safe-haven asset.
In order to manage appreciation pressures on its currency, the SNB sells foreign exchange and invests in highly liquid assets such as US equities. As a major investor in the US stock market, the SNB files quarterly 13F reports of its holdings with the US financial markets regulator, the SEC.
According to its latest filings for Q1 2025, first reported in the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung, the SNB no longer holds a stake in US oil firm Chevron. Indeed, Q4 2024 filings show that the bank used to hold around $0.7bn in the oil firm by the end of last year. Meanwhile, as of Q1 2025, the SNB continues to hold a $1.4bn stake in Exxon, the filings show.
When approached by Net Zero Investor, a spokesperson for the SNB said that the bank does not comment on individual stock-picking decisions. "The SNB pursues a market-neutral, passive investment approach with its equity investments by representing the individual stock markets in their entirety, thereby ensuring that its investments are as broadly diversified as possible. There has been no change in the cases where the central bank deviates from the principle of full market coverage. It continues to refrain from investing in stocks of systemically important banks worldwide due to its special role as a central bank,” they said, adding that, “The National Bank feels obliged to take into account the fundamental norms and values of Switzerland within the framework of its investment policy. Therefore, it does not invest in stocks or bonds of companies whose products or production processes significantly violate broadly accepted societal values."
Central banks such as the ECB and the SNB face growing public pressure to consider their fossil fuel exposure. A recent report by campaign groups Reclaim Finance and Urgewald shows that the ECB has added nine fossil fuel companies, including Total, BP, and Eni, to its guarantees system, allowing the firms in question easier access to loans.
A 2024 paper by the London School of Economics highlighted the potential role of central banks in managing the net-zero alignment of sovereign bond markets, with central banks generally being the largest owners of such assets.
