Federal Bank

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Eidgenössische Bank AG share for CHF 500 on March 2, 1918
Former headquarters of the Eidgenössische Bank, later UBS AG, in Bern, photo 2015
Former bank building of the Eidgenössische Bank in St. Gallen, photo 2015
Former bank building of the Eidgenössische Bank, later Bankgesellschaft (SBG), in Neuchâtel 1962

The Eidgenössische Bank (EIBA) was one of the most important Swiss commercial banks before it was taken over by the Schweizerische Bankgesellschaft (SBG) in 1945.

history

The EIBA was founded in Bern in 1863 as a trading, securities and central bank . Jakob Stämpfli , who resigned as Federal Councilor in the founding year and was the first President of the EIBA from 1864, played a leading role . The two Parisian banks Société Générale de Crédit industriel et commercial and Societé Anonyme des dépôts et de comptes courants were involved in the new bank . They also guaranteed the first share issue of 60,000 shares in 1863/1864. The EIBA had the right to issue notes. It was one of several Zeddel banks that supplied Switzerland with banknotes at the time. In this role, the EIBA was a forerunner of the Swiss National Bank , founded in 1905, which began issuing banknotes across Switzerland from 1907.

Branches (so-called comptoirs ) were quickly opened throughout Switzerland in order to take on the role of central bank.

Well-known architects created representative buildings for the EIBA in several Swiss cities:

Further branches existed in Geneva (from 1866), Basel (from 1873) and Vevey (from 1903). The EIBA was therefore particularly well represented in western Switzerland . Many French-speaking Swiss considered the Banque Fédérale (EIBA in French) to be their big bank.

The headquarters of the EIBA were moved from Bern to Zurich in 1892 .

The following acted as bank president (P) or board member (VR):

Emil Schärr fraud

On October 1, 1869, the Eidgenössische Bank was exposed to extensive embezzlement of funds from the cash on hand in the Zurich branch. The young cashier and accountant Emil Schärr had intentionally incorrectly booked incoming amounts in order to conduct private stock exchange transactions. As he was the only employee in the branch who really understood the new and sophisticated booking system, he enjoyed the unlimited trust of his superior, Karl Stadler. Schärr had acquired his knowledge in his previous employment at a bank in Paris . He had hoped to simply "borrow" the money in this way, because, as he later explained, he had intended to use the profits he made to pay out a deposit of 20,000 francs to five residents of his home town of Mümliswil that he hadn't been able to raise himself at the age of 19. After the cashier's losses on the stock exchange, there were more and more withdrawals of money until the damage to the bank amounted to over 3,248,658 francs. From the end of August 1869, branch manager Karl Stadler had ignored numerous warnings from business circles. On September 30, he confronted Schärr, but for the time being believed what he was saying to exonerate him. Schärr used the following days to withdraw money and then fled. On November 9, 1869, he was arrested at the Austrian-Italian border in Zurich on 11 years on February 2, 1870 prison convicted.

Development in the 20th century

The EIBA already had many customer relationships in Germany and Eastern Europe in the 1920s. This created a real cluster risk . At the beginning of the National Socialist (NS) rule, the liabilities of the EIBA in Germany amounted to a high 33% of total assets. Since foreign exchange control laws and standstill agreements blocked many of these investments, the EIBA had to take out a Lombard loan from the Confederation's loan office as early as 1935 to ensure its liquidity . This was followed by share buybacks and write-downs on the share capital. When Germany finally lost the Second World War , a further reduction in the EIBA's capital would have been necessary. Instead, the EIBA decided to give up its independence in 1945 and to be taken over by its competitor SBG, which was founded in 1912. The UBS took over assets in the amount of 350 million Swiss francs. A quarter of EIBA employees left the bank voluntarily. Most of the EIBA's bank buildings were sold, with the exception of those in Bern and Neuchâtel. Under the corporate mantle of the EIBA, the SBG tried to collect at least some of the outstanding claims in Germany. From 1956 the UBS AG and later the UBS AG used the new name Eidgenössische Bank Beteiligungs- und Finanzgesellschaft as a subsidiary for long-term investments such as real estate.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ T. Büchi: Beurselaub - Images from four centuries of securities trading. Zurich 1979, OCLC 889637367 , p. 122.
  2. ↑ Stephanie Summermatter: Jakob Stämpfli. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . February 17, 2012 , accessed July 7, 2019 .
  3. ^ A b c Memorandum of the Eidgenössische Bank (Aktiengesellschaft) in Zurich 1863–1913. Orell Füssli, Zurich 1914.
  4. ^ Jan-Henning Baumann: Federal Bank. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . August 27, 2004 , accessed July 7, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Jakob Tanner : Swiss National Bank (SNB). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  6. ^ NN: Hôtel de la Banque Fédérale à la Chaux-de-Fonds . In: Schweizerische Bauzeitung . tape 34 , no. 16 , 1899, pp. 154–156 , doi : 10.5169 / seals-21408 .
  7. ↑ a b c Herbert Raff: Schweizerische Bankgesellschaft: 1862, 1912, 1962 (Festschrift) . Swiss Bank Corporation, Zurich 1962.
  8. ↑ Ursula Kampmann: The people of Zurich and their money - book accompanying the exhibition . 1st edition. Oesch Verlag (Das MoneyMuseum), Zurich 2006, DNB  980353637 , p. 89-93 .
  9. ↑ Between withdrawal and business acumen - On the role of the Swiss financial center in the Nazi economy. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung. March 23, 2002, p. 30.