Italian, English and German in Lugano's banks and law firms
Three working languages
The daily work of Lugano's financial centre takes place in three languages, each with its own function. Italian is the language of the client, of the cantonal authorities, of the courts and of most internal communication in Ticinese institutions. German is the language of the head offices of the large Swiss banks, of much of the federal administration and of many supervisory contacts. English is the language of international banking, of the commodity trade described in Part F, of investment documentation, of group reporting and of most contracts with non-Italian counterparties. Swiss statistics capture this multilingualism at national level. According to the Federal Statistical Office, 45 per cent of employed persons regularly use more than one language at work at least once a week. English is used at work by about a fifth of employed persons.1
For a Lugano bank the result is a layered language structure. A relationship manager speaks Italian with an Italian client, writes to the credit department in Zurich in German, reads research and product documentation in English and fills in compliance forms in whichever language the group uses. A Ticinese lawyer advising an Italian family writes the opinion in Italian, negotiates a share purchase agreement in English, files an application with the commercial register in Italian and corresponds with a Zurich bank in German. The frontier workers from Lombardy who make up a significant part of the banking workforce, a subject that Chapter H.I treats, are native speakers of Italian but often trained in Italian law and Italian banking practice. Their linguistic competence is complete, but their legal vocabulary may follow the Italian model.
The relationship manager's language as an asset
In private banking the relationship manager's language is part of the product. Clients entrust their assets to a person they understand and who understands them. The shared language creates the trust on which the relationship rests. For Italian clients this has always meant a relationship manager who speaks Italian as a native language and knows the Italian tax system, the Italian family structures and the Italian business culture. Lugano's banks attracted Italian clients from the 1950s onwards with this offer, as Chapter D.II describes. Geneva and Zurich could provide Italian-speaking staff, but they could not provide an entire city in which the client could live, buy a house, educate his children and deal with notaries, courts and authorities in Italian.
After the end of banking secrecy vis-à-vis Italy and the introduction of the automatic exchange of information, the relationship manager's language remains an asset, although its function has shifted from discretion to the explanation of complex rules. The relationship manager must explain Italian tax rules, Swiss regulatory requirements, cross-border succession planning and investment products to clients whose wealth is fully declared and who expect advice at the level of a Milan private bank. The language advantage thus becomes a legal and technical advantage. A relationship manager who can explain in Italian why a Swiss fideiussione requires a public deed, or why a Swiss contratto successorio may be void in Italy, adds value that a translation cannot replace. Conversely, the cross-border rules discussed above require that the relationship manager not cross the line into unauthorized activity in Italy, where his language and his knowledge of the market would be precisely the elements that make his activity there attractive and risky.
Notes
- FSO, "Lingue" (above) (45 % of employed persons use more than one language at work at least once a week; English used at work by 21 %). ↩
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.