Apr 7, 2025 · 33 min · 11 segments
Welcome to the second episode of Leaders Unplugged, a bi-weekly podcast by IMD, hosted by IMD President David Bach with Felix Zeltner. In this wide-ranging chat, David goes from the global to the…
Sergio ErmottiGuest
David BachHost
Felix ZeltnerHost
So people are asking themselves, wait a second, we have been told a few years ago that the new regime and the new regulation would avoid something like that happening, and now here we are again.
Well, of course, all of a sudden we have to go through an emergency law over a weekend to rescue a bank.
That's the reason we have to be serious about how we answer the question and not allow a culture of fear to dominate this debate.
The classical example, we are too big for the country because the size of our balance sheet is twice the size of the economy.
I fully understand we are, but Switzerland is a country that punches well above its weights in terms of many dimensions.
If I look at the size of the Swiss National Bank balance sheet compared to the GDP, if I look at the debt pro capita, In Switzerland, you know, many of you I'm sure know, is one of the highest in the world.
So when you look at the size of our balance sheet, you have to say, okay, let's put all these data points.
You know, the fact that we pro capita have twice as much wealth as any countries around us.
Or the size of the market cap of the stock exchange in Switzerland is the sum of, you know, I would say Italy, Germany, Spain, and Austria together.
right? So that's what I'm always trying to say is, okay, by the way, Switzerland is the 20th largest economy in the world, and we are number 19.
So people are asking themselves, wait a second, we have been told a few years ago that the new regime and the new regulation would avoid something like that happening, and now here we are again.
Well, of course, all of a sudden we have to go through an emergency law over a weekend to rescue a bank.
That's the reason we have to be serious about how we answer the question and not allow a culture of fear to dominate this debate.
The classical example, we are too big for the country because the size of our balance sheet is twice the size of the economy.
I fully understand we are, but Switzerland is a country that punches well above its weights in terms of many dimensions.
If I look at the size of the Swiss National Bank balance sheet compared to the GDP, if I look at the debt pro capita, In Switzerland, you know, many of you I'm sure know, is one of the highest in the world.
So when you look at the size of our balance sheet, you have to say, okay, let's put all these data points.
You know, the fact that we pro capita have twice as much wealth as any countries around us.
Or the size of the market cap of the stock exchange in Switzerland is the sum of, you know, I would say Italy, Germany, Spain, and Austria together.
right? So that's what I'm always trying to say is, okay, by the way, Switzerland is the 20th largest economy in the world, and we are number 19.
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