Zurich’s elite celebrates its decay

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Today they ride again at the Sechseläuten in Zurich. Men in tight pants and boots gallop around a fire until the flames devour Böögg. During the festive parade, they pass by the crowd throwing flowers at them from the side of the road.

It is a festival where the mighty of Zurich celebrate themselves.

But their power became fragile. One word is often used: “crumbly”. The effect of the Zurich felt collapsed.

In mid-March, a bank from Basel bought Credit Suisse, which has been the pride of Zurich’s elite for 167 years. The state-backed takeover of UBS saved Freisinn’s home bank from bankruptcy.

CS isn’t the only power supply to crash or be damaged in Zurich:

• Swissair has not been flying for over 20 years. Its successor, Switzerland, is owned by the German Lufthansa.
• At Grasshopper Club, nostalgically known as “record champions”, the elite once met in the back of the Hardturm’s main stand, accompanied by bratwurst, Bürli and mustard. Today GC is owned by a large Chinese company and is no longer even average in terms of sports.
• The rigid tower has been demolished and the groundbreaking ceremony of the new stadium is not on the horizon.
• The vote rate in the FDP city of Zurich fell from almost 40 percent before the First World War to 17.5 percent.
• Intrigues and scandals have plagued the university hospital in recent years.
• Kunsthaus, which is especially close to the heart of the elite, made international headlines because it was said that some paintings in the Bührle Collection could not adequately explain their origins.
• Guilds, which are the city’s economic guilds and were originally centers of power, have conscription issues and are little more than costumed horsemen.

What’s wrong with the felt? “We are currently experiencing social change in Zurich that is far greater than many would like to admit.” That’s what someone who’s been pulling the strings of Limmat for decades and doing it consciously in the background. Such a change is “in the worst sense, a corruption followed by nothing. Or a metamorphosis in which something new is created.” But what’s going on right now is “sad”: “The old die, the young don’t want it and can’t take over.”

And this is dangerous not only for Zurich, but for the whole of Switzerland. No other city in the last few centuries has had comparable economic and social drives. To stay above average, urban elites are needed to lead the way. “If you equate this leadership, a country falls in the middle.”

Missionary, loyal, Zwinglian

Influenced by the Zwinglian tradition for a long time, the people of Zurich brought with them exactly what was needed to set up and successfully run banks and businesses to set political and academic events. Although they were not considered to be joking, they were hardworking, outwardly humble, conscientious and loyal people.

They began to build their networks in influential secondary schools in Zurich, the Hohe Promenade and the Rämibühl Gymnasium. Networks at the university and ETH have become more closely intertwined. After graduation, one went to a credit institute, another to Swiss Reinsurance, another became an editor at NZZ, one earned a doctorate and remained a professor at the university, many became politicized in the Federal House, among them powerful women. Vreni Spoerry (85) and Elisabeth Kopp (1936-2023).

The role model of them all was Alfred Escher (1819-1882), the Swiss figure of the century who founded, designed and directed it. Without him, ETH, CS, SBB and Swiss Life would never have existed or would have emerged much later and in a different way. Escher’s heirs shared values ​​as well as political and social views. It was part of taking an interest in high culture, the arts, the opera and the concert hall. You can trust each other and work in a children’s hospital. Men rose to become officers in the army. They met at the Rotary Club, playing golf at Dolder, at the FDP, at the NZZ general assembly, took his son to the GC game and introduced him to the bank manager there. The elite found young talents in their ranks.

For decades, universities have produced good, if not brilliant, people. Combined with their Protestant work ethic, they were able to run companies properly. Especially because they stay loyal, which makes any company stronger.

It was a circle that shaped the country—especially for the better. Modern Switzerland would be unthinkable without this Zurich economic community.

Decay started with globalization

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 changed a lot. The world could no longer be divided into good and evil. Globalization seemed to create opportunities. For some, Zurich and Switzerland seemed too small. Along with Rainer Gut (90) from Zug, the person who brought the Protestant credit institution into the world was a Catholic from central Switzerland. It expanded to America on a large scale, changing the culture in Zurich in the 1980s and 1990s.

Investment banking was added to First Boston, a business that CS never fully understood and was never able to function properly. Shareholders approved salaries and bonuses at Paradeplatz as usual on Wall Street in New York. As if the tried-and-tested local talent pools were no longer good enough, this is the only way to recruit and retain talented staff.

From that moment on, what one could do was more important than where he came from. Competition for talent and jobs has gone global. If the GC supporter’s son wasn’t enough, the bank manager took out a guy called Germany. It was no longer necessary for the elite to care for their own children. The free movement of people eliminated the shortage of skilled workers. Young people could no longer trust their old rope sets and lost interest. A career in Rio or Rome seemed more exciting than a podium at Paradeplatz and a dinner in the guild hall.

Someone comes and goes. Be it a bank, an insurance company or a conference hall: these have become international platforms where people meet intensively in English, exchange ideas and then disconnect again after a while. Local elites cannot thrive in such an environment. Especially since working 60 or 80 percent is enough for many.

When globalization began, bankers and entrepreneurs published their neoliberal white papers. They believed that Switzerland would be left behind if it did not think more globally. Fearing relegation, many began to vilify Switzerland as a place of business. “You wanted to be bigger than you are,” says former banker Konrad Hummler (70). He speaks of a “master of the universe syndrome” in which Zurich’s power is collapsing.

When CS President Urs Rohner (63) needed a successor to his American boss, Brady Dougan (63), he called the city of London. Rohner, who was not a banker himself, brought in Tidjane Thiam (60), who was also not a banker. The French did not fit neither CS nor Zurich. After that, the two men number 2 led the stumbling line.

But the old elite could lead. You were too good and smart to say that out loud. They certainly achieved more because they worked quietly. Except for Sechseläuten, they hardly appeared in public. A lot of things worked, as long as they acted carefully. “Then the best lost their grip on reality,” says Hummler, former NZZ President. “In the end, they just moved on the surface instead of going deep.”

It’s just that in the last twelve years things have happened in Zurich that shouldn’t have happened. The wife of then Central Bank Governor Philipp Hildebrand (59) traded dollars while she helped control exchange rates. Credit Suisse boss Dougan admitted in Washington that his bankers had been hiding money from American tax authorities for decades. CS became the main sponsor of the Zurich Film Festival, run by CS President Rohner’s partner. The bank had former and current employees, then detectives; it was a suicide.

From the point of view of the Zurich elite, these are all signs of moral decay. Role models had failed. A vacuum has emerged that the Left and the Greens have filled at the political level.

No more error culture

Hummler finds it shocking that elites no longer stand aside and admit their mistakes. Like when Heinz Wuffli (1927-2017) took over the responsibility after the Chiasso scandal in 1977 and left his job as general manager of the credit institution. “You can destroy 99 percent of the capital,” Hummler says. “But then you have to say, ‘This wasn’t good’.”

Instead, people who are portrayed as unsuccessful by the media, ostracized by the old ruling circles, ostracized by society remain silent. Ahead of this year’s Sechseläuten, it was leaked that the Meisen guild advised two former CS presidents not to appear again. “No one wants to be influenced by the shadow they cast,” explains the person in the background. “It is not surprising that they show neither humility nor understanding. These people, II. It grew and became stronger after World War II. He was always going up. They have not learned to be humble. In the end, arrogance exceeded the permissible limit.”

Pride supported the fall.

Is a metamorphosis, a Zurich renaissance possible? At least ETH is still a world-class university and NZZ is a premier setting in the country. However, Zurich no longer has a seat in the Federal Council. With Sergio Ermotti (62), UBS relies on an experienced and down-to-earth master from Ticino. Strong woman in Freisinn – Federal Councilor Karin Keller-Sutter (59) – St. Gallen, the strongman – party chairman Thierry Burkart (47) – grew up in Kirchdorf in the canton of Aargau. All from the countryside.

There is no one in sight from all over Zurich.

Source :Blick