SNB's Jordan: Still have room to maneuver on rates

Further comments by SNB chief, Thomas Jordan

• SNB still has room for more expansionary policy
• Have sufficient room to change policy to react to any shocks
• Needs to take international environment for interest rates into account
• Globally, the time for interest rate rises appear to have been pushed back
• SNB is never explicit about FX market transactions
• International environment has had an impact on the Swiss economy

He's taking a page out of the ECB's playbook here as he signals that the central bank has room to ease further but the line on 'rate rises being pushed back' hints that it is something that they'd be hoping to achieve. Given what little ammunition they have with rates already at -0.75%, that's hardly surprising.

That said, if global economic conditions continue to worsen and major central banks start turning more dovish, they won't have much other choice but to follow suit.