Analytical Diaries

About a year ago Swiss banking was written off and proclaimed dead.

The US and European strikes against banking client privacy laws was producing many experts, doomsday journalists and fear-mongers, that saw no more room for distinguished bankers on Zurich’s Bahnhofstrasse or along the shores of lake Geneva. Meanwhile JP Morgan has announced to expand its Private Wealth franchise in Switzerland with 400 new jobs and many other international banks are following suit. So what can we deduct from these ambivalent news merely months apart?

• Money isn’t moving that fast after all – at least when we consider private and old money, as opposed to the hedge fund, automated trading, speculative and bubble building money of day traders.
• Privacy still pays – even in times of transparent clients, facebook style narcism and predictive sales analysis your banker still is a person of trust, ranging very close to your doctor, priest or best friend when it comes to telling private details. And even after the relaxation of Swiss Banking Secrecy the level of discretion in Switzerland still ranges dimensions above the remaining EU countries and the US, where automated data exchange between banks and government agencies, is commonplace
• Returns reign over politics – apparently CEOs still have their hearts closer to their P&L statements than to their political party. And while lobbying to change the international competitive edge in favor of one’s own country seems worthwhile – leveraging the existing benefits abroad seems to pay off even faster and certainly more

So obviously Switzerland welcomes the new jobs in their finance sector, but even more it is happy for every indicator that proves wrong the doomsday proclaimers of their core industry. So when you come along next time, to visit the beautiful mountains or to taste the delicious chocolate bring along that little discrete briefcase and open your Swiss account – even if it’s not a numbered one.

Article first published as New Jobs in The Swiss Banking Industry Come From The US on Technorati.