I didn't understand cbb's comment for two reasons, though to be fair, I didn't see the Swissinfo article. First up, you're right to think that higher interest rates support a currency, in a normal world. Secondly, I think it unlikely that any major economy is thinking about raising interest rates in the forseeable future.

Thanks guys, that's good to know.

Customs related. I found a gadget place that WILL ship here but DOESNT deduct UK VAT from the prices.

I think I accidentally benefitted from this exchange rate dip. Although I was aware it had changed, I'm not too bright at figuring out which direction it needs to move in to benefit me. Ignorance of this beneficial exchange rate is my excuse for keeping my money in CHF and frittering it on I know not what instead of paying off chunks from a credit card or three.

Each month, I transfer back to the UK enough to pay my mortgage and I input the amount on my online UBS banking in GBP. I tend to know how much to expect to see gone in CHF but ended up double checking this month, flicking from UBS to RBS wondering 'how did so few francs make that many pounds?'

Fair enough, it may not last but I got such a pleasant surprise on that transfer and, by the time it swings the other way, I'll be transferring back less since the house will have rented out (for way less than the mortgage repayment because I don't want it sitting empty).

See, sometimes it pays (no pun intended) to have no idea what's going on with exchange rates.

Sorry all. I meant to say interest rate cut by the Swiss. They want to keep their currency competitive for their export market. Sorry for the error. I was obvioulsy excited and in a hurry to change the last of my pounds.

unwinding again? Back to around 1.76 now.

Today the pound slipped further following the announcement by the Bank of England that the UK economy was "probably" in recession.

More the fact that no inflation => more rate cuts I would say.

This article on SwissInfo implies that the rate should go back to help Swiss exports.

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/front/In...0&ty=st&ref=nl

I hope so as I want to buy some CHF soon.

I want $ to go down grrr!!!! 1CHF = 1$ makes the Devil happy

And now selling EUR/GBP at around 0.855...So much for the UK being the tiger economy of Europe. Seems like a lot of wind out of the sales. Great times to be earning as an Ex-pat though.

My guess is that the CHF will become cheaper, despite being a "safe" currency when times are hard. The Hungarians and Poles no longer take out their mortgages in CHF, and are busy converting existing ones to EUR or the local currency. The SNB auctioned off a few billion the other day at 1.48 to the EUR, and didnt fill half the allowed quota. Sprinkle in a scary banking system, and the threat of recession, and it should dip.

The £ seems to be recovering a bit now. I just purchased my Swiss Pass and was charged at a rate of CHF 1.90/£ That is a fair bit better than I was expecting. Thanks to Switzerland Travel Centre

GBP/CHF just fell through 1.70

should be a good time to sock away some pounds methinks...?

1.684 free falling

My son who is here on holiday used his HSBC card yesterday and got the princely rate of 1.70 out of the automat.

He did well then!

Just seen a tourist rate of 1.57

Anybody any comments?

I've been watching the Franc gain on the dollar in an impressive amount this week -- last week the peak was $1 = 1.21 CHF -- now as of this morning it is at 1.07 -- yikes!

It's falling so fast the automat can't keep up now 1.633...