Swiss Central Bank Governor Resigns on Allegations of Impropriety

The governor of the Central Bank of Switzerland, Phillip Hilderbrand has stepped down from his post amidst allegations of impropriety centered on foreign exchange speculation committed by him and his wife.

On normal grounds there is nothing wrong with foreign exchange speculation; however Hildrebrand’s vantage position as the head of the Swiss Central Bank allowed him access priviledged information which should on no circumstances be utilized for private transactions.

Swiss newspaper Die Weltwoche broke the story a few days ago, hours after Hilderbrand’s wife confessed in private to a foreign exchange deal involving using the Swiss Franc to buy United States Dollars and booking a profit after the consummation of the transaction.

The Swiss apex bank had said it knew Hilderbrand’s wife, an art dealer and former currency trader, had engaged in the transaction, but had no evidence that the transaction was unlawful.

Auditing giant, Price Waterhouse Coopers provided information in the form of emails that Hilderbrand found out about his wife’s clandestine transactions after the fact.

However public outrage due to the breaking of the story put pressure on Hildrebrand to resign, in addition to shedding light on the secrecy of Swiss banks.

Bank Sarasin, the bank where the Hilderbrand’s hold their private accounts fired an employee for leaking information pertaining to the nature of the transactions to the Swiss media.

The improper transaction involved the Hilderbrand’s buying over a million US dollars, knowing that the Swiss Franc currency would soon be devalued (by Philip Hilderbrand), then selling the dollars later for a profit.