Switzerland: Vontobel Saga Drags On As Dismissed Chief Executive Speaks Out

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-news.com, Brussels

14 May 2001

Dr Hans-Dieter Vontobel, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Swiss private banking group Vontobel Holding, must surely be grinding his teeth. Just when he thought the saga surrounding the Geneva-based bank had come to a natural conclusion, one of the key figures given his marching orders in March over financial irregularities concerning the Vontobel's failed e-banking project has spoken out on the fiasco.

The "official" inquiry into the failure of the bank's e-banking project, named y-o-u Bank, and the subsequent sacking of three key personnel, has just been completed. The bank released a statement last week saying that the inquiry had totally vindicated Vontobel. However, highly influential Jorg Fischer, the dismissed chief executive of Vontobel who happens also to be the chairman of the Swiss Stock Exchange, has broken his silence and last week commented for the first time since his high-profile dismissal, accusing Vontobel of "public misrepresentations" in an attempt to justify his sacking.

Mr Fischer denied that the Vontobel board had not been fully informed about the progress of y-o-u Bank, a project which had been in the pipeline since March 2000, but was scrapped in February, with Vontobel citing costs and timing at the time. Mr Fischer refutes later claims by the board of Vontobel that the abandonment of the e-bank was down to the less than savoury activity of himself and colleagues Hans-Peter Bachmann, the head of corporate finance, and Walter Kaeser, the chief financial officer, who were also both dismissed.

Hans Geiger, Vontobel vice-chairman, said that the findings of the inquiry justified the board's decision to fire the trio, saying Arthur Andersen, the auditors in charge of the inquiry, had "stumbled over facts which reveal an unprecedented degree of insolence". Passing the buck, Mr Fischer charged that it was Tony Reis, the former Swisscom chief executive who remains a director of Vontobel, who had been chairman of the y-o-u Bank project, so perhaps the buck shouldn't have stopped where it did.

Apparently, the whole episode is to be investigated and ruled upon by the Swiss Banking Commission, a move which Mr Fischer welcomes. The same probably cannot be said for Dr Vontobel and his fellow board members. They might not like it, but the Vontobel debacle looks set to run and run.

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