Swiss National Bank open to expanding digital currency project

ZURICH (Reuters) - The Swiss National Bank is open to expanding its pilot project with wholesale central bank digital currencies, governing board member Antoine Martin said on Wednesday.

"We would like to see a pilot which develops, with more banks joining and a higher volume of transactions," Martin told the Point Zero Forum event in Zurich.

The SNB will continue providing a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) for at least two more years, it said last month, extending a pilot called Project Helvetia III which began last year.

Six banks, including UBS and Commerzbank, are already taking part in the project which has seen six digital bond issuances for a total value of 750 million Swiss francs ($830.38 million).

($1 = 0.9032 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by John Revill; Editing by Noele Illien)