Thesis

The New Swiss Banking Elite? Plurality and Polarization of Careers

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  • Swiss Centre of Expertise in the Social Sciences (FORS)
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Abstract

This thesis questions the emergence of a new Swiss banking elite. It relies on a biographical database composed of executive directors and non-executive directors of 37 Swiss banks (N = 487) as well as a series of 20 biographical interviews. First, I show that there is a polarization within the Swiss banking elites, between an international pole on the one hand and a national pole on the other. The new elite is rather located on the international pole. Second, I establish a typology of the geographical mobility of the careers of banking elites. I identify four types attesting the plurality of the career paths: national careers, early international careers, international careers and European careers. Thirdly, I identify individual pathways leading to the hierarchical top of a bank. Through this career analysis, I show how the social space of banking elites is highly differenciated. Fourth, I analyze dispositions and strategies of presentations of self by banking elites. I show an opposition between the figure of the wealh manager and the figure of the investment banker, embodied by a new elite. In conclusion, I affirm that there is indeed a new banking elite, characterized by its internationality and its relationship to performance. However, this new group did not replaced the old ones and Swiss banking elites remain a group defined by its plurality.

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... Some authors study the growing importance of 'international capital' (Wagner, 2007) or 'cosmopolitan capital' (Bühlmann et al., 2013) among business elites, in the form of professional experience and education abroad, transnational networks, or multiple language proficiency. While the importance of international experience varies from one country to another (Hartmann, 2018), it seems that having a spell abroad is a new career path of contemporary business elites in European countries (Araujo, 2020;Schneickert, 2018;Timans & Johan, 2018). Nevertheless, there has been less attention paid to the impact of globalisation on the careers of business elites in older historical periods, notably throughout the entire nineteenth and twentieth centuries. ...
... Along with new flows of capital coming from other countries, there was also an explosion of new financial products and services offered by large banks and cantonal banks. The larger banks started to specialise in investment banking at a global level and recruit specialists with college degrees in economics and finance (Araujo, 2020). The profile of Axel Weber, the president of UBS in 2020, illustrates this shift from vocational training to an academic profile. ...
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Swiss capitalism has changed over time, adopting elements of the coordinated market economy and liberal market economy during specific historical periods. Taking the case of the Swiss banking sector, this article aims to demonstrate how these changes in structure also result in the transformation of the profiles of banking elites. Relying on a prosopog-raphy of 301 top bankers distributed among seven benchmark years (1890, 1910, 1937, 1957, 1980, 2000, and 2020), we show continuities and discontinuities in the main resources needed to hold a career as an elite banker in Switzerland at distinct times of capitalism. Our results show a long-term persistence of family capitalism among private banks, the erosion of national institutions such as vocational training and the militia army, and the different forms of internationalisation in the careers of bankers, following waves of globalisation and deglobalisation.
... Like other transnational phenomena, impact investing is also locally anchored, and studying this local anchoring-here, through the case of Geneva-is crucial to understand its concrete implementation mechanisms (Attencourt and Siméant 2015). Geneva has a long financial and banking history and a highly integrated financial field (Araujo 2020;Mazbouri and Guex 2010) dominated by ancient families and private banks active in wealth management. Geneva is also known for its philanthropic initiatives, led by foundations and banks (David and Heiniger 2019;David, Heiniger, and Bühlmann 2016;David et al. 2016). ...
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Résumé Cette thèse questionne l’affirmation et les transformations des sciences économiques (économie politique et gestion d’entreprise) en Suisse au XXe siècle. Nous utilisons une base de données biographiques sur cinq cohortes (1910, 1937, 1957, 1980, 2000) de professeurs d’université (N=561). Premièrement nous montrons que les sciences économiques s’affirment institutionnellement et disciplinairement dans l’académie. En particulier le capital académique (positions de recteurs) des professeurs de sciences économiques est le plus important parmi toutes les disciplines dans la période récente. Deuxièmement les professeurs de sciences économiques deviennent les professeurs les plus représentés parmi les élites économiques suisses (les grands patrons). Certains réalisent également des carrières parmi les élites politiques (les élus nationaux) et les élites administratives (les hauts fonctionnaires fédéraux). 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Le pôle scientifique utilise de plus en plus les mathématiques, et chacun des deux pôles a ses propres domaines de spécialisation. Nous observons que la dominance parmi les professeurs, outre l’usage de mathématiques et l’étude d’objets particuliers, se traduit également par une interdisciplinarité relativement soutenue, particulièrement avec les sciences « dures ». En conclusion nous affirmons que c’est par cette division du travail entre deux pôles de professeurs, ceux liés à la pratique scientifique et à l’excellence internationale, et ceux liés à l’administration des universités, des entreprises et de l’Etat, et par le renforcement historique de cette division, que les professeurs de sciences économiques sont « partout » et que la discipline a pu affirmer son pouvoir dans la société suisse. Summary This dissertation focuses on the “rise” and transformations of economic sciences (economics and business studies) in Switzerland over the 20th century. It relies on a biographical database divided into five benchmarks (1910, 1937, 1957, 1980, 2000) of university professors (N=561). First I show that economic sciences rise as a discipline and in the institutional hierarchy of academia. In particular in terms of academic capital (positions of vice chancellors) of the professors, the economic sciences have become the most important among all the disciplines in the recent period. Second professors of economic sciences have become the most represented professors among the Swiss economic elites (the CEOs of large corporations). Some also pursue careers among political elites (national elected officials) and administrative elites (federal high civil servants). I observe a standardization of the careers of professors between two types of profile: purely academic and partially extra-academic. Third I show a process of "nationalization" of professors’ profiles after 1918 and of re-internationalization after 1945. I observe a definitional shift of the internationality of scientific "excellence" from the German-speaking and French-speaking countries to the USA. Finally I notice that scientific capital (citations in prestigious journals) is linked to cosmopolitan capital (internationality) and opposed to more national academic, economic and political capitals. Fourth this opposition is confirmed by the study of the interactions between the different capitals of the professors. I identify on the one hand a scientific and international pole and on the other a “society” pole, characterized by national academic, political and economic capitals. The scientific pole increasingly uses mathematics, and each of the two poles has its own research areas. I observe that dominance among professors, besides the use of mathematics and the study of particular objects, is also reflected in a relatively sustained interdisciplinarity, particularly with the "hard" sciences. In conclusion I argue that it is by this division of labour between two poles of professors, those linked to scientific practice and international excellence, and those related to the administration of universities, corporations and the state, and by historically strengthening this division, that professors of economic sciences are "everywhere" and that the discipline has been able to reinforce its power in Swiss society.
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