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Daniela Stoffel (left), State Secretary for International Finance, reported to Ueli Maurer until a few weeks ago – and maintains a very close and friendly exchange with the financial sector.
Thomas SchlittlerBusiness editor Sunday view
The financial sector has shaped Switzerland’s image like no other. Thanks to their decades of activity, the Paradeplatz bankers have managed to get Hollywood villains to fly to Zurich or Geneva in cinemas to keep their black money safe.
In order not to be forever ostracized as an accomplice of corrupt politicians, tax fraudsters and other criminals, the Federal Council passed the “clean money strategy” at the end of 2009 – under massive pressure from abroad – and created the State Secretariat for International Financial Matters (SIF) to implement it.
The SIF should not only ensure that the Swiss financial center can do without foreign illicit money in the future, but also develop “the basics for financial market regulation” and “participate in international efforts to combat financial crime”.
SIF communicates with banks
In the meantime, however, the SIF – which has reported to Ueli Maurer (72) for the past seven years and to the new Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter (59) since the beginning of the year – seems to be focusing on the role of defender and promoter of the Swiss financial center. E-mails between State Secretary Daniela Stoffel (54) and high-ranking representatives of the financial sector give this impression.
In the news, which SonntagsBlick was able to view based on the Public Information Act (BGÖ), the SIF boss discussed critical media reports with industry representatives. In June 2021, for example, Stoffel asked a UBS banker: “Dear (…). Can you put that in context for me? Is there anything to discuss? Greeting”. We are talking about a newspaper article with the headline: “Hard defeat for UBS in France”.
The explanations of the UBS man, whose name was blacked out by the federal government, come promptly. At the end of the email, the man from Paradeplatz writes in a friendly manner: “If it were e.g. B. helpful if (…) informs you in a catch-up on current priorities shortly after the summer break and on the latest assessment of the verdict?»
Switzerland promoted crypto businesses
At the end of January 2022, Stoffel discussed a critical article in the “Financial Times” (“FT”) about the “Crypto Valley” in Zug. The report notes that Switzerland has done a lot to encourage crypto trades in recent months, while other countries have tried to curb them.
The journalist finds this tricky, since crypto technologies are increasingly at the center of “global illegal financial flows”. His conclusion: “For Switzerland, crypto carries the risk of becoming a repeat of the bleak financial past.”
A representative of the Zurich private bank Vontobel is alarmed and wrote to Bern on January 26, 2022: “Dear Daniela (…) In my opinion, the financial center and state institutions must take this tone extremely seriously.”
Stoffel replies within minutes: “Dear (…). We discussed this article internally today. The ‹FT› is strategically related to the Swiss financial center. very critical.”
“The integrity of the financial center is key”
The SIF also contacted the journalists of the “Financial Times” and pointed them to a fact sheet that states, among other things: “For Switzerland, the integrity of the financial center is key.” The Head of Communications writes politely but firmly: “Thank you for considering this information when you write about the Swiss financial center again.”
A member of the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA), also on the mailing list, likes this approach: “Dear Daniela. Many thanks for the intervention at the ‘FT’,” he wrote the following day. However, he warns that the “Guardian” and the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” are planning further “critical articles on the subject of money laundering and the Swiss financial center”. “I will advise our media office to proactively communicate how the issue is being addressed in Switzerland.”
Many contacts to financial institutions
Financial center representatives and senior officials advise on how to deal with critical media. is this common The SIF plays down the contacts: “The state secretary was approached by the industry (the “FT” article; ed.) and referred to the previously published SIF fact sheet on Swiss blockchain regulation,” said the media office .
However, that is only part of the truth. On the basis of another BGÖ request, SonntagsBlick knows that between January and August 2022, State Secretary Stoffel had email contact with more than a dozen financial institutions.
That’s not forbidden. However, it raises the question of whether the necessary distance exists between the authority and the financial center. Because the SIF not only has the task of representing “Switzerland’s interests in financial, currency and tax issues” on the international stage and working for “good framework conditions”, the authority is also responsible for the development of financial market regulation – and there it seems strange when the top boss is on first name terms with the industry.
However, Stoffel is in good company with this approach: Her predecessor as SIF boss, long-time federal official Jörg Gasser (53), also had an excellent relationship with Paradeplatz. In 2019 he was even rewarded with the CEO post at the Bankers Association. This week it was announced that Gasser will be stepping down from office in a few weeks. Marcel Rohner (58), SBA President and former UBS CEO, has the task of finding a successor. Or even better: a successor. The name Daniela Stoffel should at least be on the list.