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Swatch chief calls for changes at Swiss central bank - paper

Nick Hayek Jr Swatch Group Chief Executive gestures during the Swiss watch maker annual news conference in Plan-Les-Ouates near Geneva March 20, 2014. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

ZURICH (Reuters) - The head of Swatch Group , the world's biggest watchmaker, has called for changes at the Swiss central bank, suggesting its three-member governing board is too small and too out of touch, newspaper Schweiz am Sonntag reported on Sunday.

The Swiss National Bank (SNB), which has far fewer board members than the European Central Bank's 25 policymakers, stunned markets and business leaders last month when it removed its cap on the Swiss franc's exchange rate against the euro, sending the currency soaring and stoking fears about Switzerland's export-reliant economy.

"The SNB must remain independent. But it should not make its decisions in an ivory tower, out of touch with reality. It should instead be forced to grapple with the real world," Swatch's chief executive, Nick Hayek, was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

Hayek suggested a three-person board was too small, and instead the bank should have five or seven "very different people, not just professors and theoreticians".

The SNB's chairman, Thomas Jordan, said again in Brussels this week that the bank had no choice but to lift the cap of 1.20 francs per euro as it had become clear the limit was not achieving the monetary policy goal intended.

Hayek also criticised the central bank for giving up on defending the cap.

"The SNB has shown weakness, and it continues to communicate this weakness," Hayek said. "It's explaining everywhere why it didn't fight. But that doesn't make things better."

Swatch will not be badly affected by the appreciation of the Swiss franc against the euro because the exchange rates with the U.S. dollar and renminbi are more important, Hayek said.

He also said Swatch was not considering wage cuts or participation in a government-approved scheme to allow firms to cut production by reducing working hours without staff losing their pay.

(Reporting by Alice Baghdjian; Editing by Greg Mahlich)