One safe-haven asset often overlooked by many investors is the Swiss Franc.
Traders are frequently attracted by gold and AI. But 2025 was an equally good year for Switzerland’s currency.
Take a quick look at British Pound-Swiss Franc’s (GBPCHF) long-term chart. The rate only travels in one direction : Down and down.
GBPCHF recently hit a multi-decade low of 1.036 before rebounding weakly to 1.070.
Every market crisis, adverse macro events and geopolitical conflicts in the past two decades pushed investors into the haven asset they knew best – Swissie.
Why? Because the land-locked country enjoys unrivalled political stability, steady economy and strong macro position. Switzerland reports trade surplus in most years.
In contrast, since 2008 UK experienced a severe banking crisis, jarring Brexit uncertainty, falling economic productivity, persistent trade deficits and intense political upheavals (6 Prime Ministers in 8 years).
These downside risk events are expressed clearly in the FX market. Investors prefer CHF over that of GBP, any rebound in Pound Sterling was used to buy more Francs.
Apart from Sterling, the Swiss Franc is also powering against the US dollar and Japanese Yen.
The latter, at 194 Yen per Franc, just hit the highest level since the current floating FX regime began in 1972. In other words, the Swiss Franc is probably the world’s strongest currency right now.
So, will 2026 usher in another good year for the Swiss Franc?
Judging from the current global macro, political and military uncertainty, the short answer is probably “yes”. But – there is always a ‘but’ in most analysis! – the currency is technically overbought. This means that there could be counter-trend moves over the near and medium term.
And, will the appreciating CHF be a destabilising factor for the Swiss economy? A firm currency is desirable. An overly firm currency? Not so.
If the Swiss National Bank sees rampant buying of the Franc leading to an uncontrolled rise, it will intervene to cap Franc’s strength.
Still, Swiss Franc is an asset to own for the long term (like gold). Any weakness should be an opportunity to accumulate the currency.
