At its General Assembly on Friday, the so-called «Day of the Economy», Economiesuisse elected 16 new members to its board, according to a media release.

Six of them represent companies from the financial sector. The Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) alone is sending three representatives: first, its newly designated president, EFG CEO Giorgio Pradelli. He was also elected Vice President of Economiesuisse.

Pradelli and Ronner Replace Rohner and Helfenstein

They are joined by Markus Ronner, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of UBS Group, and Basil Heeb, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Raiffeisen Switzerland. André Helfenstein, Chairman of the Board of Directors of SIX Group, is also joining the board, along with two representatives from the insurance sector: Jean-Daniel Laffely of Groupe Vaudoise Assurances and Roman Stein of Swiss Life Switzerland.

In practice, more significant than the number of new board members is the reshuffle of the Executive Committee, the association’s key leadership circle and centre of power. Pradelli, Ronner and Stein are joining the committee, as is Andreas Christen, President of Swiss Textiles. They replace Carl Illi, Marcel Rohner, Lukas Gähwiler and Juan Beer.

SAAM Returns

The financial sector’s membership base has also been expanded. The Swiss Association of Asset Managers (SAAM), which left Economiesuisse several years ago, is returning. Its existing membership of the Swiss Union of Arts and Crafts (SGV) will remain in place, meaning that SAAM is now a member of both of Switzerland’s major umbrella business organisations.

«We are expanding our presence within the associations,» SAAM Director Vivien Jain told finews.

It was the final General Assembly under Christoph Mäder as President of Economiesuisse. At today’s Day of the Economy, he hands over the reins to Silvan Wildhaber, who was unanimously nominated by the board on March 16.