Historically neutral Switzerland's foray into the global currency war ended in defeat after its central bank left markets shell-shocked by abandoning the franc's exchange rate floor, analysts said.
But with major shifts in monetary policy under way, the currency war is hardly over and the front lines will move to other countries.
"The Swiss central bank was the first to throw itself into the currency war, (and) it is the first to capitulate," said Christopher Dembik, an economist at Saxo Bank.
The capitulation amounted to abandoning the Swiss franc's exchange rate floor of 1.20 francs to the euro, which the Swiss National Bank had imposed more than three years ago to stop the franc from appreciating too much against the European single currency.
But on Thursday the SNB raised the white flag and surrendered, letting the franc float.
The shock announcement was felt across the globe as the franc immediately strengthened by 30 per cent against the euro. It has since settled at around parity with the euro, which is a 15 per cent gain in value since the floor was removed.
The move caused plenty of collateral damage: stocks in Swiss companies heavily dependent on exports were devastated. It engulfed eastern European neighbours whose mortgage debt is denominated in the franc, and wiped out at least two international foreign exchange brokers.
Dembik said Switzerland beat a retreat on the currency battlefield before the European Central Bank at its meeting Thursday comes out "with a major weapon" - namely a massive sovereign bond-buying program that would flood the market with euros and raise demand for the Swiss franc, a top safe haven currency.
"The central banks talk among themselves and the Swiss know that in the case of 'quantitative easing' (QE) by the ECB the floor is no longer tenable," said Philippe Waechter, economist at Natixis AM.
For Daragh Maher, a strategist at HSBC, "by removing the floor, the SNB is no longer compelled to intervene, a tactic which had become politically contentious."
The tactic was controversial because it was costly. The SNB had to buy massive amounts of foreign currencies to contain its own money, an astronomical cost equivalent to 85 per cent of the country's gross domestic product, according to Simon Ward, economist at Henderson Global Investors.
The SNB however did not totally desert the field: it dropped its key interest rate to below zero at -0.75 per cent in the hope that it would discourage investing in the Swiss franc.
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