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The Swiss National Bank (SNB) hardly imagined this to be the case. Hours before the monetary policy assessment takes place, everyone in the financial center is talking about the monetary authorities. Not because of its monetary policy, but because of serious accusations: the SNB should have a misogynistic corporate culture!
Specifically, it is about sexism and harassment, wage discrimination and women, whom the National Bank allegedly denies their professional opportunities. These accusations are in an article published Thursday morning in the online magazine “Republik”. In it, business journalist and BLICK columnist Patrizia Laeri (43) and journalist Fabio Canetg (32) write about alleged abuses at the SNB. The author relies on statements from current and former Banco Nacional employees.
SNB defends itself against the accusations
In the article, insiders spell out their opinion, raise serious accusations and ridicule conservative corporate culture. The problem with this: everyone shows up anonymously. A new examination is not possible.
Politicians have already raised the issue of equal rights for women in the SNB. The national councilor for Zurich, Celine Widmer (42), wants to know from the Federal Council, among other things, what the SNB is doing to significantly increase the proportion of women and improve the compatibility between work and family.
The National Bank defends itself against the widespread suspicion of men grouping together. “We take any evidence of incidents of discrimination or sexism very seriously,” the SNB writes.
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In a conference call, which was actually intended to explain monetary policy, the president of the National Bank, Thomas Jordan (57), found clear words and rejected the accusations: “We have no systemic problem. However, I cannot rule out individual cases. “The National Bank monitors these in all cases. Because, according to Jordan:” Mobbing, sexism and discrimination are unacceptable for the National Bank. ”
SNB needs the best people
When asked by BLICK, Jordan emphasized that equal opportunity was SNB’s model for success: “We want to find the best employees. In the time since the financial crisis, the National Bank had to overcome some very big challenges. This would hardly have been possible without committed and well-integrated employees, added the SNB president.
In part, the accusations seem constructed. One informant, for example, said that she was asked about her political views on the SNB’s investment policy during a job interview. She responded cautiously, saying the investment policy could be “reconsidered.”
A few days later, the SNB, which is largely defined by its political independence, rejected it. “The question of the plaintiff’s political stance was clearly inadmissible in this case,” said Martin Farner (75), a lawyer specializing in labor law, quoted in the article.
Regular review of equal pay
Farner suppresses the fact that the question was hardly intended as a general political opinion test, but it was technically justified. Investment policy is one of the central tasks of a national bank. Asking potential future employees what they think sounds not only legitimate, but necessary. It would be remiss not to address the problem.
In another case, an applicant is quoted who, prior to the interview, complained in a letter to the SNB leadership about “gender inequality” at the central bank and asked what the bank intended to do about it. Oh, I wonder: he didn’t get the job.
The article goes on to claim that the SNB violates the principle of equal pay for equal work. The National Bank writes: The principle of equal pay applies without restrictions in the SNB. “The federal government’s standard analysis tool for equal pay analysis is already in use at the SNB and shows that the SNB is compliant with equal pay.” You can read more about this in the next annual report.
Two women at the top
It is indisputable that the SNB is traditionally in male hands. The 14 presidents since its inception in 1906 have all been men. After all, in 2015, Andréa Maechler (51) was the first woman to be elected to the three-person board of directors. And the banking council, the SNB’s supervisory body, is the first woman to be chaired by former Graubünden government councilor Barbara Janom Steiner (57) in two years.
By the way: Switzerland is voting for two weeks of paternity leave this week. At Banco Nacional, three weeks of paternity leave has been standard since 2019.
