FACTBOX-Recent Swiss National Bank policymaker comments

Jan 19 (Reuters) - The Swiss National Bank started the long route back to normalising monetary policy at its latest meeting on Dec 10, slightly softening its pledge to fight a rise of the Swiss franc even as it held interest rates steady.

The SNB kept its target band for the 3-month Swiss franc LIBOR at 0.00-0.75 percent and continued to aim to keep the LIBOR at 0.25 percent.

Below are comments from SNB policy makers since the December meeting:

SWISS NATIONAL BANK CHAIRMAN PHILIPP HILDEBRAND, JAN 17

* "Banks must be reorganised to make (winding them down in an orderly fashion if they are in trouble) possible. This is a highly complex issue and the solution will not be simple. And this also applies to the regulation of the size of individual banks and of their business divisions," the Swiss weekly Sonntags-Zeitung quoted him as saying. [ID:nLDE60G06H]

* "We will not allow the risk of deflation to be realised in Switzerland through such an appreciation" Hildebrand was quoted as saying in the Swiss weekly Sonntags-Zeitung. "We do not have an exchange rate target, but we will resolutely prevent an excessive appreciation of the franc in the current environment," he was quoted as saying. [ID:nLDE60G061]

HILDEBRAND, JAN 16

* "The universal banking model represents a form of risk diversification," the Swiss Daily Le Temps quoted Hildebrand as saying of big Swiss banks not splitting up their wealth management and commercial banking operations. "The foundation of our financial centre remains wealth management, for which confidence is essential," he said. [ID:nLDE60F050]

HILDEBRAND, JAN 11

* "The SNB will continue to prevent any excessive appreciation of the Swiss franc vs euro," SNB chairman Hildebrand said in a statement released to reporters. "The SNB has no exchange rate target but it will monitor foreign exchange market developments very closely," he said.

For the full story, click on [ID:LDE60A0CF]

* "When this moment (of an interest rate increase) arrives, it's ultimately a sign that the crisis and the recession are behind us and that we are again moving towards growth and recovery," Hildebrand said in a television interview.

"But one must also say, that if we were to remain at this extremely low level of interest rates, as we are now, that would create new problems for our economy, and we definitely don't want that."

For the full story, click on [ID:WEB4625]

For the SNB statement on the latest rate decision [ID:nSNBTEXT] (Editing by Andy Bruce)