Thomas Jordan, Swiss National Bank President, had said the central bank's currency ceiling on the Swiss franc is 'essential to protect the country's economy.'

While attending the joint annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington, Johnson remarked, "The minimum exchange rate is very important. It remains a crucial tool of our monetary policy in order to avoid a tightening of monetary conditions in Switzerland."

The bank instituted a CHF1.20 per EUR1 cap back in September 2011 after the Swiss franc nearly reached equal value with the Euro. The franc, since then, had declined by about 2.5% against the Euro since the European Central Bank announced a bond-buying program in September 2012 in order to defend the Euri. This allowed the SNB to avoid intervening in the currency markets to protect the limit instituted in about a year, according to a quote from Jordan earlier in the week.

Jordan said, "The Euro-Swiss exchange rate is a little bit above the minimum exchange rate, we will have a very strong currency. We have a relatively stable situation with respect to the exchange rate. The Swiss franc is highly valued, it should in a way depreciate over time. Even under the situation at the moment with the discusion over the fiscal situation in the US, the exchange rate remained above the minimum exchange rate of CHF to EUR1."