10. Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf
(Image: Keystone)
The Swiss politician left office in 2015, but her imprint remains firmly on the country's banking system. Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf came to the top political job for finance spectacularly: she had stepped in during 2008 when her predecessor had a heart attack he later linked to the pressure of UBS' subprime losses.
Sixty-three-year-old Widmer-Schlumpf proved of sturdier stock: two years after helping coordinate UBS' bailout, she took on the finance ministry permanently – and with it bankers. She had inherited a withholding tax plan meant to make good for Switzerland's hidden offshore accounts, but only Britain and Austria bit, and the idea was abandoned.
Instead, by this time with Switzerland under intense international pressure, Widmer-Schlumpf in 2012 opened the door for Swiss banks to swap confidential data with other countries. The plan shocked Switzerland's wealth management industry, and lent Widmer-Schlumpf the nickname «gravedigger of banking secrecy». Reviled by bankers but treated reverently by voters, Widmer-Schlumpf barrelled ahead. In 2016, the first wave of automatic exchange of information came into force, one year after she had left politics.
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