Campaigners from Minneapolis traveled to Bern to press the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to sell its stake in Palantir Technologies, arguing the data analytics firm's work with U.S. immigration authorities conflicts with accepted values.
The SNB's filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission shows the central bank held 6.24 million Palantir shares at the end of 2025 as part of its foreign currency investments, which totalled 725 billion Swiss francs - equivalent to about $922 billion. The Palantir position is valued at roughly $1.1 billion, according to the figures presented by the delegation.
Palantir, co-founded by Peter Thiel, secured a contract last year with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to develop surveillance systems. Campaigners say that work has drawn sharper scrutiny following two separate incidents in Minneapolis in January in which the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens involved immigration officials.
At the SNB shareholders' meeting in Bern on Friday, the Minneapolis delegation formally requested that the city council's position be heard by the bank's shareholders and executives. The group sought a divestment on the grounds of Palantir's links to ICE and the surveillance technologies it supplies.
Janette Corcelius, a member of the delegation who attended the SNB meeting at the invitation of campaign group BreakFree Suisse, described Palantir as a global threat to democratic norms. She said the company's activities extend concerns beyond U.S. borders.
Palantir did not respond to a request for comment about the SNB meeting. Earlier this year, Palantir's CEO Alex Karp defended the company and its surveillance tools in a letter to shareholders, saying the technology has safeguards so that the "state and its agents can see only what ought to be seen."
The SNB said it conducts regular reviews of its holdings but declined to comment on individual assets. The bank has explained publicly that it accumulates a large portfolio of foreign equities as part of investing its currency reserves, purchasing shares to reflect their weighting in global markets rather than selecting companies on an individual basis.
Under the SNB's own investment guidelines, it will not invest in companies that grossly violate commonly held Swiss values, seriously breach fundamental human rights or systematically cause severe environmental damage. Campaigners maintain Palantir's work with immigration enforcement and surveillance systems conflicts with those standards.
Other institutional investors have moved away from Palantir over similar concerns. The Nordic financial services group Storebrand Asset Management is among the large investors that have disposed of Palantir holdings.
Guillaume Durin of BreakFree Suisse said the SNB's investment in Palantir confers a degree of legitimacy on the company and called the holding inconsistent with the central bank's stated guidelines.
For context on currency valuation, $1 equals 0.7867 Swiss francs based on the figure cited with the SNB's disclosure.
Summary
A Minneapolis delegation urged the Swiss National Bank at its Bern shareholders' meeting to sell the SNB's $1.1 billion stake in Palantir Technologies over the company's contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and involvement in surveillance activities, which campaigners argue conflicts with Swiss investment standards. The SNB reviews holdings regularly and declined to comment on specific assets; Palantir's CEO has said the firm's technology includes safeguards.