Norway’s state fund keeps Swiss wealth debate alive

Norway’s oil and gas revenues have built one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, but efforts to create a similar fund in Switzerland have repeatedly failed, SRF reports.

Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global was established to preserve income from oil and gas for future generations. Under its legal guidelines, the fund invests exclusively abroad, mainly in shares. It owns around 1.5 percent of all listed companies worldwide, making it an important foreign-policy instrument, according to SRF’s Northern Europe correspondent Bruno Kaufmann.

The model has also drawn criticism over sustainability. The fund’s assets come from the oil and gas business, while it seeks to encourage companies to manage climate risks more responsibly. Figures published recently showed that the fund generated about 184 billion dollars in the first half of 2026.

Switzerland lacks a comparable revenue source

The idea of a Swiss sovereign wealth fund has been discussed repeatedly, but without success. SRF business editor Matthias Heim says Switzerland lacks the raw-material revenues available to Norway to finance such a fund.

Alternatives including the country’s foreign-exchange reserves and profits from the Swiss National Bank have also been proposed. So far, however, these ideas have met resistance from the Federal Council and the central bank.

A sovereign wealth fund is essentially a state’s large investment account. Instead of spending money immediately, a government invests it over the long term in assets such as shares, bonds or property. The returns either remain in the fund or flow back to the state and, ultimately, the population.

Countries use such funds for different purposes. Saudi Arabia uses its fund partly to finance large investments and construction projects, while Singapore creates a financial buffer for difficult economic periods. Norway invests oil and gas revenues so future generations can benefit from today’s natural-resource wealth.

Why the central bank opposes the idea

The Swiss National Bank’s profits are not a reliable source of income, Heim says. Over the past 10 years, the SNB recorded losses in three years and profits in seven, with sometimes very large fluctuations.

The bank is also not mandated to generate profits but to conduct monetary policy. A sovereign wealth fund dependent on its earnings could weaken that focus, Heim says.

Swiss cantons could in principle establish their own funds. Some US states already do so. But Heim points to Switzerland’s emphasis on individual responsibility. Surpluses are more likely to be returned to households and companies through tax cuts than invested in a long-term fund.

SNB profits could reopen the debate

The SNB recorded a profit of around 25 billion Swiss francs in the first half of 2026. If the second half of the year is also strong, the question of a sovereign wealth fund could resurface, Heim says.

Until now, an agreement on profit distributions has governed how the SNB’s earnings are shared between the federal government and the cantons over several years. The payments amounted to as much as six billion francs a year. The distribution for 2026 remains unclear, and no new agreement has been announced.