* SNB board member says SNB in position of strength
* Jordan says interventions ad hoc, not at certain level
* Says developments since June 18 show desired effects
(adds SNB quarterly bulletin, updates franc)
By Sven Egenter
LUCERNE, Switzerland, July 2 (Reuters) - The Swiss National Bank will continue to intervene on an ad-hoc basis to prevent the Swiss franc from rising, as part of its massive quantitative easing, SNB board member Thomas Jordan said on Thursday.
Markets had understood the intention and the SNB had achieved what it wanted since a policy assessment on June 18, Jordan told reporters at an SNB conference in Lucerne.
"We continue to be ready to intervene if necessary", he said. "We do not want an appreciation of the franc."
"We are in a position of strength because we have quantitative easing and want to boost liquidity," he added.
The SNB renewed its full set of drastic steps at its policy meeting on June 18 to help the Swiss economy recover from the worst recession since 1975.
The SNB slashed its target for the 3-month franc LIBOR to 0.25 percent in March, offering liquidity at just 0.05 percent. It has intervened to fight a rise in the franc and bought corporate bonds to lower spreads.
"We have a zero interest rate policy," Jordan said. "We are in a policy of massive quantitative easing and credit easing."
The SNB was addressing certain market segments directly with its bond and currency purchases, he said. "Boosting liquidity through these channels has become very important," he said.
The Swiss franc slipped against the euro after Jordan's comments. The euro rose as high as 1.5257 francs, up from levels just below 1.52 francs before the comments.
"AD-HOC" INTERVENTION
The Swiss currency also dropped sharply last week after traders said the SNB had repeatedly intervened as the franc approached 1.50 per euro, a level which many analysts considered the SNB's pain threshold.
But Jordan said the central bank was not reacting to certain levels. "We do not do this (intervening) at a particular level but we decide on an ad-hoc basis to achieve a large impact," he said. "The situation since the media conference (on June 18) has shown that the effect, which we were aiming for, materialised."
The SNB has confirmed only one intervention so far when it launched the new measures on March 12.
A traditional safe haven currency, the franc has risen 10 percent during the financial crisis, exacerbating the blow to the export-dependent Swiss economy from the global downturn.
In its quarterly bulletin published on Thursday, the SNB said companies had voiced concern about the franc's rise before the June 18 policy meeting.
"Representatives of the export industry, in particular, therefore welcomed the SNB's announcement that it would take steps to prevent a further appreciation of the Swiss franc against the euro," said the report, which otherwise echoed the monetary policy assessment.
(For the report click on: www.snb.ch/en/iabout/pub/oecpub/quartbul/recent/id/quartbul_2009_2)
Jordan said in a speech at the event marking the 10th anniversary of the introduction of the Swiss franc repo, the SNB was considering ways to improve its repo operations to counter liquidity problems that arose during the financial crisis.
Jordan told journalists the money market, which at times had frozen up during the crisis, had improved but did not work as it did before the crisis.
"Still, the central banks do a large part of the intermediation," he said. "The banks do not have a reason to deal among each other due to the large liquidity (provided by central banks)."