12. Flavio Romerio
Almost as ubiquitous as Swiss bankers are their helpers: Swiss lawyers. Homburger’s Romerio (image: SRF) remains one of the country’s premier advice-givers to banks when they find themselves in a pinch.
He runs the white-collar and investigative practice at Homburger, where he has been a partner since 2002. In the legal profession, Romerio is lauded by legal eagles for an ability to «understand how the authorities are contemplating a case.» Romerio is married to UBS board representative – and head of law firm Froriep’s Zurich practice – Isabelle Romy.
11. Marc Pictet
A representative of the eighth generation to govern the bank, Marc Pictet worked briefly for competitor Sal. Oppenheim in Cologne before returning to the family fold 16 years ago. Today, he is responsible for the Genevan firm’s asset services, IT, and offices in Basel, Frankfurt, Munich and Zurich.
The Cologne stint obviously served the Geneva native well: Pictet opened its third office in Germany earlier this year, in Stuttgart. One of six partners to run the 212-year-old bank, Marc Pictet has shown willingness recently to stick his neck out for Geneva's finance industry.
10. John Haefelfinger
The longstanding Credit Suisse banker had a great year after leaving the Swiss giant. Haefelfinger, a veteran of international shipping finance, quickly found his feet at regional lender Basellandschaftliche Kantonalbank, where he was named Chief Executive in January.
By mid-year, he had reorganized the traditionally retail-focused bank to emphasize regional private banking, corporate clients, and independent asset managers. Haefelfinger also promised digital investments. «We want to devote more time and attention to our clients,» he said. How can we say no to that?
