Swiss Central Bank Eyes 2012 Profit of 6.0 bn Swiss Francs

The Swiss National Bank said on Thursday it expected to post a profit of about 6.0 billion Swiss francs ($6.4 billion, 4.8 billion euros) for 2012 -- less than half of what it made in 2011.

In 2011, Switzerland's central bank, SNB, posted a profit of 13.5 billion Swiss francs.

Last year, foreign currency positions added around 4.7 billion Swiss francs to the bank's profit, it said in a statement, without providing further details.

The bank, which is set to release its complete results on March 7, meanwhile said that 3.6 billion Swiss francs of its profit would go towards "provisions for currency reserves."

SNB has been working hard to prevent the Swiss franc from gaining too much in value against the European common currency, as investors, unsettled by the eurozone debt crisis and uncertain U.S. economic prospects, have fled to the perceived Swiss safe haven.

The central bank has repeatedly vowed to maintain an exchange rate floor of 1.20 francs for each euro to avoid the Swiss currency taking flight to the detriment of the country's exporters.

SNB also said Thursday that rising gold prices boosted the value of its holdings of the precious metal by 1.4 billion.