Swiss Review 3/2020

Swiss Review / June 2020 / No.3 31 SBB breaks record – then passenger numbers plummet Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) transported 1.32 million pas- sengers per day last year –more people than ever. However, this record figure already seems like a relic froma different era. Due to the coronavirus crisis, passenger numbers have plummeted since the beginning of March. Schedules have been completely scaled back. International services have been suspended. (MUL) Warmest winter since 1755 The observatory in Binningen (canton of Basel-Landschaft) is Switzerland’s oldest meteorological station, having recorded climate data since 1755. According to its latest data, the winter of 2019–20 was 3.1 degrees warmer than the average from 1981 to 2010. It was the warmest winter in Switzerland since records began. Readings fromothermore recently established meteorological stations tell the same story. February 2020 saw temperatures in Binningen of up to 20°C. (MUL) Swiss farmers hit by vole plague Voles love warmwinters because they can find more food and breedmore prolifically. This spring, their numbers in some Swiss regions rose to 250 voles and water voles per hectare of farmland. Arable crops will be completely dec- imated if this figure exceeds 300, say experts. Entlebuch in the canton of Lucerne has been particularly affected. (MUL) Curdin Orlik “free at last” Successful Swiss wrestler Curdin Orlik (27) has come out as gay. He is the first-ever elite Swiss athlete to have done sowhile still active. This is of particular note, given that the world of Swiss wrestling is known to be very traditional and conservative. Orlik said that he had suppressedwho he really was for too long. He wanted to be “free at last”. Tell- ing the truth to his son was another reason for coming out, he added. (MUL) Burgeoning arms exports Countries around the world are exporting more arms. Switzerland is no exception. In 2019, the government al- lowed Swiss companies to sell military equipment worth 728 million francs to over 70 nations. This figure is 43 per cent up on the previous year. There is growing parliamen- tary opposition to the government’s approval of arms ex- ports. Complaints are likely to continue, because Swiss weapons are increasingly bound for warring countries, according to a report in the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung”. Further information: ogy.de/exports (MUL) Tidjane Thiam Could the prodigy of a wealthy African family cut it in the hush-hush world of a Swiss big bank? Ultimately, the answer was no. On 14 Feb- ruary, Credit Suisse CEOTidjane Thiamwas forced to resign fromhis post following a number of leaks related in particular to a spying op- eration ordered by the bank. Thiamwas apparently unaware of what was going on – practices described in certain quarters as par for the course at Credit Suisse. Having already tendered his resignation, Thiam presented the Credit Suisse annual results, announcing a 70 per cent increase in net profit in 2019. Clearly, results were not the problem. The issue was more to dowith Thiam’s backstory, which reads like a novel. Born into privilege, Thiammade the most of his intelligence and drive to study at France’s prestigious École Polytechnique, before becoming a gov- ernment minister in Côte d’Ivoire, then ‘king’ of London’s financial district. His address book includes names such as Barack Obama, Da- vidCameron and François Hollande. Thiam’s flamboyant background was never going to sit easily in the dour environment of a Swiss big bank. “When a person moves to a new country,” Thiam told the “Le Monde” newspaper in 2015, “I believe that the onus is on them to un- derstand the culture in that country.” AlthoughCredit Suisse ismore international than Swiss, the bank needed someone more ‘grounded’. The solution came in the form of Thomas Gottstein, who was previously chief of Credit Suisse’s Swiss operations. This was the home-grown manager whom the Board of Directors presented as Thiam’s successor. STEPHANE HERZOG Top Pick News