Philipp Hildebrand has quit as Swiss National Bank chief, the bank said, in the wake of a scandal over a controversial currency trade made by his wife just weeks before he set a cap on the soaring Swiss franc.

COMMENTARY

CHRIS CRUDEN, CEO INSCH CAPITAL

We've always been a big seller of his 'line in the sand' euro trade. Maybe his wife will turn out to be a better trader than him after all.

SIMON DERRICK, HEAD OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON

I don't think this will make any difference to SNB policy per se. It's not going to lead to a serious challenge of the Swiss franc ceiling or anything like that.

It may be slightly counterintuitive, but it says you have a central bank you can trust and from that perspective it does make the Swiss franc marginally more attractive. But in the broader scheme of things we know the SNB is going to defend the ceiling and this just adds to the credibility of the central bank.

TONY NYMAN, INFORMA GLOBAL MARKETS

As we suggested last week his position was almost untenable and so it has proved. The Swiss franc has actually gained on the news possibly due to hopes of increased integrity ahead, but also market positioning too. There are a lot of stops in place in Eur/Chf below 1.21100 and this could well be the convenient catalyst to test them.

Once the news gets digested, we do not expect a lasting impact on the franc from the news, however.

(Compiled by London Treasury Desk)