Ralph Hamers moves to a Swiss tax haven

The new head of the main Swiss bank, Ralph Hamers, will not move to the neighborhood of UBS headquarters in Zurich. Instead, he settles in a low-tax canton.

Ralph hamers It is Zug by choice. At least the new head of UBS has established himself there, as can be seen from the Swiss trade register.

This was first noticed by the “Tages-Anzeiger” (Paid article). A UBS spokesman declined to tell the newspaper that it was Hamer’s private matter.

Maximum tax rate as a problem

The newly arrived Dutchman is not the first UBS banker to live in Zug instead of Zurich: his predecessor, Sergio Ermotti, kept an apartment in Zug in addition to his residence in Montagnola, a small town overlooking Lake Lugano.

That has consequences not only for the work route but also for taxes. According to the “Tages-Anzeiger”, the maximum tax rate that is likely to be relevant for Hamers in Zug is 22.4 percent, which is significantly more attractive than 40 percent in Zurich.

Fast at the opera

Moving to a tax haven did not occur to other heavyweights in the financial sector. That’s what the president of UBS said Axel weber he told the “Handelszeitung” after moving from Frankfurt in 2012 that he found an apartment in the city center of Zurich: “I don’t want to live in the Zürichberg either, but in the center, so I can get to the opera quickly.”

President of Swiss Re Walter Kielholz In 2007, when he was still Chairman of Credit Suisse, he answered a question from “Sonntagsblick” if he was considering moving from the city of Zurich to the tax-saving Freienbach or Wollerau: “Is this a rhetorical question? (…) What should I do on a wet and shady slope? “

CEOs tend to oases

Former CEOs of UBS Oswald grübel and the now deceased Marcel ospel They both settled in the tax haven of Wollerau in the canton of Schwyz, on the “wet and shady slope”. Weber’s predecessor, Kaspar villiger, only moved to Zug after leaving UBS and previously lived in Muri near Bern.