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Swiss National Bank's Philipp Hildebrand
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Philipp Hildebrand has been the chairman of the Swiss National Bank’s three-man governing board since 1 January 2010. In an interview with Geneva’s Le Temps published 17 January, he expounds on several of the issues facing the central bank today.
Relatively upbeat on Swiss economy
Hildebrand is moderately optimistic about Switzerland’s economic prospects for the coming year. The pace of inflation will determine the rate at which monetary policy is normalized over the coming months, he says. As to the risk of inflation getting out of hand, Hildebrand says that the independence of the world’s central banks is the best insurance against the temptation by governments to inflate their way out of huge public debts.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The French public prosecutor in Nice, southern France, Eric de Montgolfier, has revealed that his office is in possession of confidential details of up to 130,000 clients from HSBC’s private banking branch in Geneva. The data was acquired by the French state when Hervé Falciani, a former IT employee of the bank, left HSBC with the details stored on his laptop. Journal de Dimanche reports that 3,000 of the bank’s clients are French citizens.
The whistleblower, who is reported to have received a new identity and is said to be in hiding in fear of his life, told French public television that he acted out of idealism: “Either you bury your head in the sand or you try to do something about it.”
Credit Suisse headquarters in Zurich's Paradeplatz, Copyright © 1997 - 2009 CREDIT SUISSE GROUP AG
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Credit Suisse group has released figures that show that it earned CHF2.35 billion in the third quarter of 2009, an increase of 61 percent over the second quarter. The bank says its “low-risk” business model is vindicated by the surprisingly strong numbers. This is reflected in part by the net inflows of private client assets, which reached CHF13.1b, a growth of 5.4 percent on an annual basis. Revenues from Private Banking at CHF 723m were lower than in the second quarter, due in part to lower interest income.
UBS New York headquarters
Update 3 New York, USA (NYT) – According to the New York Times, Switzerland’s largest bank UBS, under pressure from the US tax authorities, has begun to close “hidden offshore accounts of its well-heeled American clients, potentially allowing their secrets to spill into the open.” Reuters, with a more complete report, has had the information confirmed by UBS, which notes that this is a process that started in November 2007 and which was publicized some months ago.
In July 2008 the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) demands for access to several thousand UBS and other banks’ clients’ accounts led to Mark Branson, the chief financial officer for the bank’s wealth management unit, addressing a US Senate subcommittee. He announced that UBS would be “exiting completely” the offshore banking business for US residents through its own branches: “UBS will no longer provide offshore banking or securities services to US residents through our bank branches. Such services will only be provided to residents of this country through companies licensed in the United States.” Offshore banking is a $7.3 trillion industry, also known as cross-border banking: the assets are managed in a country in which the owners of the assets are not resident.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Alex W Widmer, age 52, chief executive officer at Bank Julius Baer, has died, the bank announced Friday morning. No details were provided except to say that he “died unexpectedly overnight Wednesday.” He is survived by three children.
