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Swiss banks are keen to show how far they’ve come in promoting equal opportunity. An evaluation of Swiss banking’s top management by finews.com makes the words ring hollow.

2019 was called a year of the woman, with more than half a million Swiss joining numerous protests on June 14 across the country, demanding equal rights for women and men.

But even if the protest was successful in as much as it put the question top of the agenda in an election year, it hasn’t reached as far as top echelons of Swiss banking. finews.com - for a second year running - took a close look at executive boards in the industry for a second year. The evaluation revealed a disappointing picture, as the number of female executives increased by exactly one person from a year ago.

The result is all the more disappointing as banking proclaimed its interest in the promotion of female executives and in boosting diversity among its staff.

1. Promoting Women

The only Swiss bank that increased the number of women on its executive board over the past twelve months was UBS Switzerland, the Swiss division of the country’s largest bank. UBS in September 2019 appointed two women to the executive of its Swiss business.

Simone Westerfeld took over from Roger von Mentlen as head of private client business as per the start of 2020 and Martha Boeckenfeld was put in charge of digital platforms and marketplaces.

2. The Setback

Raiffeisen Switzerland by contrast is responsible for the setback in the effort to promote more equality. The bank in 2007 had appointed its first woman to the executive. Gabriele Burn, head of the branches division, left the company as a consequence of the Gehrig-report, which unearthed a series of failings by the bank in connection with the tenure of ex-CEO Pierin Vincenz.

Since Burn’s departure, the executive board is all-male again. In March 2020 however, Kathrin Wehrli, the head of products at Credit Suisse Switzerland, will become head of products and investment services at Switzerland’s third-largest bank.