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The Republic raises heavy artillery this morning. “The Last Bastion” is the headline of your story about the management of the Swiss National Bank (SNB).
This characterizes them as a macho clan, under which “sometimes silent sexism prevails, more often open”.
Thomas Jordan, “Mr. Conservative ”, as the SNB president would be called internally, shaped a management culture that the“ witnesses ”described as“ Stone Age ”and“ authoritarian ”.
Jordan ruled “with practically unlimited power,” his regime “specifically” promoted people who were politically convenient for him, according to the republic.
The authors are Patrizia Laeri, who has made a career out of women’s issues from SRF to Blick to CNN Money, and Fabio Canetg, a young SNB critic who writes for Swissinfo.ch.
Swissinfo recently demonstrated that women rarely advance on SNB. Eight out of 10 managerial positions are held by men.
In one of the three SNB departments, the male quota for top positions is 91 percent.
“Does the National Bank have a men’s problem?” Asked the Swissinfo author Canetg in the title of a Swissinfo article in early September. “It smells of gender discrimination,” said the monetary economist.
That was the beginning. The result is today’s broadside. Canetg teamed up with Patrizia Laeri, who plays the women’s drum on “Blick” and on social media and scores points with many.
Several women had spoken with the authors about the predominant male predominance of SNB. Women would often earn less and be less likely to get the coveted jobs.
Especially if it is clear that they will soon have children: that would immediately limit their career opportunities at SNB.
The authors refer to studies that have shown that women and men achieve better results together.
They build their story on that. “Switzerland cannot afford a national bank characterized by political prejudice, groupthink and chauvinism.”
“Lack of diversity and pronounced groupthink are fundamentally a big risk; diverse teams tend to make better-supported decisions.”
The importance of the SNB resonates with criticism. Under Thomas Jordan, the central bank invested $ 800 billion in bonds, stocks, and gold, mostly in euros and dollars.
Now, the attack is not aimed at the SNB’s huge balance sheet, as usual, but at its culture.
While CS and UBS decorate their headquarters with rainbow flags on Lesbian, Gay, Transgender and Other Day, SNB is the last stronghold of Swiss financial males.
Then the republic. An uncomfortable situation for the central bank and its boss Thomas Jordan.
Always smiling, Jordan loves to talk about monetary policy, interest rates, and the economy.
When there are allegations that he is investing Swiss francs in US arms stocks, that leaves him alone. Clean those things off the table.
Jordan is now challenged by something the SNB chief probably didn’t expect.
The accusation of sexism weighs heavily, although it is believed that the call for diversity in the management floors of multinationals is made out of pure panic in front of the media club.
An example of a job interview with a SNB candidate makes you sit up and take notice. This was possibly the trigger for today’s investigation and history in the republic.
He is a “young macroeconomist who is” highly qualified “and” in the author’s opinion – himself a monetary economist – is directly predestined “” to work at the SNB “.
The author refers to the young Fabio Canetg, who awakens the SNB. He and Laeri continue in their text:
However, their applications are rejected several times. Sometimes without convincing reasons ”. The rejected person was then surprised by “the unbalanced gender ratio in the SNB.”
“She decides to write a letter to the top of the central bank. In it, she documents gender inequality and asks if something can be done about it. “
“His letter has not yet received a response when the informant applies again for a job.”
“After a 30-minute conversation, the senior SNB employee postponed the interview that had already been scheduled, which should have taken place only two business days later, six weeks without the consent of our informant.”
Later, the SNB manager is not part of the conversation, as Republic writes.
“Our economist doesn’t notice anything. She withdraws her application before the interview. The print attempt is successful. “
A SNB spokeswoman defends herself. “The general allegations of harassment, discrimination and sexism described in her application are not known to the Swiss National Bank (SNB), and we strongly reject them,” the online outlet writes.
