The Banks: Bankverein, Handelsbank, Kantonalbank — conclusion

Conclusion

In the industrial age, the banks of Basel took new forms. The consortium of private bankers of 1854 became the Basler Bankverein in 1872, a joint-stock bank that merged with the Zürcher Bankverein in 1895, became the Swiss Bank Corporation in 1897 and opened the first Swiss bank office in London in 1898. It remained headquartered in Basel and became one of the three largest Swiss banks and the principal banker of the chemical industry. The Basler Handelsbank, founded in 1862, financed industry and foreign trade, lent heavily to Germany and suffered from the standstill agreements of 1931. The search of its Paris offices in 1932 revealed lists of French clients evading taxes and contributed to the inclusion of the criminal protection of banking secrecy in the Banking Act of 1934. The Handelsbank was taken over by the Swiss Bank Corporation in 1945.

The cantonal banks of Basel-Landschaft, founded in 1864, and of Basel-Stadt, founded in 1899, provided public credit to the population and the economy of the two half-cantons. The Swiss National Bank, founded in 1907, took over the issue of banknotes. The banking crisis of the 1930s led to the Banking Act of 1934, which introduced federal supervision by the Federal Banking Commission and made the violation of banking secrecy a crime. The devaluation of 1936 relieved the export industries, while flight capital from crisis-ridden Europe, including the assets of persecuted Jews, flowed into Swiss banks. The private banks of Basel developed the modern model of discreet wealth management, while a close network of relationships connected the banks with the chemical industry. The next chapter examines another pillar of the Basel financial centre: insurance.

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of August 2025.