Zurich-based journo, currently in Michigan. Occasional byline on @tippinpointnews. Dow Jones/WSJ, Reuters alum. Native of Michigan's shoreline, outdoors nut.
Jan 7, 2021 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
Last April and then again in May, armed protesters entered #Michigan's capitol building.
The images – like this one from @Seth_Herald of Reuters – went around the world, of course.
Surely #Michigan would ban firearms in its legislature, right?
That absolutely didn't happen. @detroitnews noted last week #Michigan's failure to ban guns in capitol. Thanks for refusing despite having the authority, Gary Randall and @johntruscott...
Government statement (in German): admin.ch/gov/de/start/d…
Proposal must pass a mini-consultation with Swiss cantons – because federalism! – with final decision
expected on January 13.
Oct 3, 2020 • 8 tweets • 4 min read
On-the-nose chronicle of why Tidjane Thiam left @CreditSuisse, as only an @nytimes can observe and tell. nyti.ms/30wvQKZ
Minor quibbles: his tenure wasn't short (four-plus years), and to say "His ouster attracted remarkably little notice outside Zurich" is inaccurate: the story dominated @WSJ and @FT financial services coverage for much of the five months between #spygate surfacing and TT leaving.
Oct 3, 2020 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
This itvu (in German) with #Finma boss Mark Branson is an ideal complement to the media blitz by Daniel Thelesklaf recently:
Branson talks about suspicious activity reports in #Switzerland (#MoneyLaundering) surging to about 8,000 per year, from 1,000.
nzz.ch/wirtschaft/ban…
That's still low internationally (and remember Switzerland remains world's largest offshore haven), but Branson is arguing that notifications are high quality.
Whatever the quality, officials still can't keep up. We know this from the guy who oversaw it:
This week, #Switzerland's powerful legal lobby quietly torpedoed changes to money laundering law aimed at getting off of an FATF watchlist. Next country exam looms 2022 (this piece, in German, impeccably parses the parliamentary process on AML).
So, back in 2017 when banking conferences were still a thing, I was at the @handelsblatt autumn one in Frankfurt. They had the head of some Dutch bank which had done a lot with online retail in Germany through Diba.
The CEO was Ralph Hamers, who at that time was relatively unknown outside of certain circles (namely ING and digital/fintech as well among organizational gurus/agile).
Jul 10, 2020 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Update on this: emails count too.
Just 👏 because 👏 it's 👏 not 👏 written 👏 the 👏 way 👏 you 👏 and 👏 your massively 👏 specific, 👏 garbled, and 👏 incomprehensible 👏 corporate 👏 language 👏 dictates 👏 doesn't 👏 make 👏 it 👏 inaccurate.
I have had a rough couple of days with various spox this week. I am complaining not because I can't take it, but because I (and probably most every other person in any other given newsroom anywhere) simply don't have the time to listen to your style gripes.
Jul 7, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
I don't know who needs to hear this today, but don't call newsrooms and dictate the wording of otherwise accurate coverage.
cc Swiss banking
Also emails with subject line "article is wrong" without any content actually warranting a correction – no, just no. Corporate "wrong" has just become synonymous for undesirable (to them) coverage or depiction. Save "wrong" for when we truly do f8ck up (trust me, we do sometimes)
Jun 24, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Containing probably the most elegant example of showing readers how the editorial sausage gets made that I have seen on #Wirecard:
nytimes.com/2020/06/23/bus…
"His downfall as a combative executive hailed in the German corporate world was precipitated by a series of reports in the FT over the last year questioning accounting irregularities in the company’s Asian operations. Wirecard disputed the reports, calling them 'fake news'..."
Jun 7, 2020 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
This is a really smart piece of journalism about #Switzerland and #coronavirus - a must-read for anyone hoping to understand the delicate machinery in Bern that keeps Switzerland humming.
There are a lot of gems in here including about @UBS_CEO Sergio Ermotti as well as @CreditSuisse.
May 25, 2020 • 20 tweets • 8 min read
So, ex-@DeutscheBank CEO Joe Ackermann gave Swiss broadcaster SRF an interview last week. I watched the entire half-hour (it took me several tries to get through it). I have...thoughts.
Ackermann is now 72. It’s been eight years since he ran Deutsche Bank. Since then, there was a brief, hugely damaging stint at Zurich Insurance, as well as a five-year run as chairman of Bank of Cyprus.
Apr 29, 2020 • 5 tweets • 4 min read
.@UBS statement on @FlySWISS rescue plan: "We're a reliable partner to Swiss small- and mid-sized business and larger corporates. Supporting Switzerland's airline as part of critical infrastructure and thus ensuring Switzerland's international connectivity are important to us."
Interesting that @UBS was utterly silent on the death of its legendary ex-chairman Marcel Ospel 3 days ago and so outspoken here. Ospel of course was infamous for not lending to Swissair after 9/11. He and UBS were widely blamed for its bankruptcy in 2002. finews.com/news/english-n…
#Swiss government prohibits gatherings of more than five people and decides on 32 bln Sfr in aid measures for business; #Zurich is closing the lakeshore, according to @NZZ (which infuriatingly has its real-time coverage of this behind paywall). #coronavirus#Switzerland
This is NOT a lockdown or even a curfew, but the government is stepping up its rhetoric, saying people should "urgently" stay at home. #coronavirus#Switzerland
