International Geneva and finance — a part of the book Geneva as an International Financial Centre by Dr Alexander Ressos.
Geneva is home to the United Nations Office, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the World Health Organization, the World Trade Organization, the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees and dozens of other international organisations, as well as hundreds of non-governmental organisations and the permanent missions of almost every state in the world. This “International Geneva” is a singularity that few cities share. Although it has no legal connection with the financial centre, it maintains relations with it of another kind, made up of reputation, networks, expertise and business. This book cannot describe the Geneva financial centre without understanding how the city became a centre of international cooperation, what this vocation brings it and what it costs it.
Part F retraces this history in four chapters. The first follows the construction of International Geneva, from the founding of the Red Cross in 1863 to the establishment of the League of Nations after the First World War and then the arrival of the United Nations institutions. The second describes International Geneva today, its organisations, its economic weight and the turbulence it is passing through. The third examines the economic diplomacy conducted there and the role of Geneva as a centre for dispute resolution, in particular through arbitration. The fourth analyses philanthropy and impact finance, at the intersection of wealth management and international cooperation.
The guiding thread of this part is the idea that neutrality, reputation and the presence of international institutions constitute, for the financial centre, a considerable intangible asset, one from which it benefits without owning it and which it must handle with care. International Geneva and finance each live on their own resources, but the two share a city, an image and interests that bind their destinies together.
This part belongs to Geneva as an International Financial Centre by Dr Alexander Ressos, published here in full, section by section.
From the Red Cross to the League of Nations: the building of a vocation — overview and summary
Nothing predestined Geneva to become a centre of international cooperation. In the middle of the nineteenth century the city was a medium-sized town in a small neutral country, with neither political… Read more Geneva · International Geneva and finance1863: five Genevans and an idea
The story begins with a book. In 1862 Henry Dunant, a Geneva businessman who had witnessed the aftermath of the battle of Solferino in 1859, published a work in which he described the sufferings of… Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeSwiss neutrality and Geneva’s vocation
Switzerland’s neutrality, recognised by the powers in 1815, as Part C recalled, is the first condition of Geneva’s international vocation. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeThe Alabama arbitration and international justice
The Alabama arbitration, held in Geneva in 1872, contributed decisively to the city’s international reputation. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and finance1919-1920: the League of Nations chooses Geneva
The First World War overturned the international order. The Treaty of Versailles, signed in 1919, contained the Covenant of the League of Nations, the first international organisation with a… Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeGeneva between the wars: capital of an ideal
Between the wars, Geneva embodied the hope of an international order founded on law and cooperation. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeThe failure of the League of Nations and the war
The League of Nations did not succeed in halting the march to war. The absence of the United States from the outset, then the withdrawal of Japan, Germany and Italy, its powerlessness in the face of… Read more Geneva · International Geneva and finance1945-1960: the return of the institutions
The creation of the United Nations in 1945 raised the question of a seat once again. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeWhat the international vocation brought to the financial centre
The building of International Geneva changed the financial centre in several ways. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeGustave Moynier and the legal construction of humanitarian action
If Henry Dunant gave the impulse, Gustave Moynier built the institution. A lawyer by training and president of the Société genevoise d’utilité publique (Geneva Public Welfare Society), Moynier… Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeWilliam Rappard and the Swiss diplomacy of hospitality
The establishment of the League of Nations in Geneva owes much to William Rappard, a Geneva professor, economist and diplomat, who pleaded Geneva’s cause before the Paris Peace Conference and… Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeThe ICRC, a Geneva institution with a universal vocation
The International Committee of the Red Cross is a legal and institutional singularity. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeGeneva and science: CERN and research
International Geneva also has a scientific dimension, of which CERN is the most visible expression. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeChronology of a vocation
The building of International Geneva spans a century and a half. The following table summarises its principal stages. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeInternational Geneva and the Genevans
The arrival of the international organisations transformed the relationship of the Genevans to their city. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and finance“Geneva” as a brand: conventions, accords and summits
In the twentieth century the name of Geneva became a brand of international law and diplomacy. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeThe Genevans of International Geneva: an elite and its networks
International Geneva is a matter of institutions and, just as much, a matter of people: the families that founded the Red Cross belonged to the same milieu as those that ran the banks. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeChecklist: assessing the reputational capital of a financial centre
Identify the institutions, events and traditions that contribute to the image of the financial centre, and measure how they are perceived by the target clientele. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeInternational Geneva today: organisations, economic weight and turbulence — overview and summary
The International Geneva of the twenty-first century is a dense and diversified whole: international organisations, non-governmental organisations, permanent missions, research centres, multinational… Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeThe institutional landscape
According to the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations Office, the canton of Geneva hosts forty international organisations, out of forty-eight established in Switzerland, several… Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeThe economic weight
The cantonal statistical office regularly measures the economic weight of International Geneva. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeGeneva, capital of health, labour, refugees and trade
International Geneva has specialised in several fields of global governance, each of which concerns the financial centre in its own way. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeThe turbulence since 2025
Since 2025 International Geneva has been passing through a period of turbulence without precedent since the end of the Cold War. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeThe host State policy
Switzerland, together with the canton and the city of Geneva, pursues a host State policy intended to maintain and develop International Geneva. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeCompetition between host cities
Geneva has no monopoly on hosting international organisations. New York, Vienna, Nairobi, Bonn, Paris, The Hague, Rome, Copenhagen and other cities house headquarters and offices of the United… Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeConsequences for the financial centre
International Geneva and the financial centre maintain relationships that the statistics measure only in part. Three dimensions deserve to be emphasised. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeNon-governmental organisations: a sector in their own right
In Geneva the non-governmental organisations form a sector in their own right. The cantonal statistical office counted 461 of them in 2023, employing 3,276 people. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeInternational staff and the Geneva economy
International officials, diplomats and the staff of non-governmental organisations form a population whose characteristics influence the Geneva economy. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeConferences and the hospitality economy
International Geneva is also a city of conferences. According to the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations Office, the conferences held in Geneva, in person, by teleconference or in… Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeThree scenarios for International Geneva
The turbulence that began in 2025 invites us to consider several scenarios for the future of International Geneva, each of which carries consequences for the financial centre. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeInternational organisations as bank clients
International organisations maintain specific business relationships with Geneva’s banks. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeThe property estate of International Geneva
Hosting international organisations is also a matter of buildings. In 1964 the Confederation and the canton created a foundation, the Fondation des immeubles pour les organisations internationales… Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeChecklist: serving the clientele of International Geneva
Know the status of international civil servants and diplomats, in particular their tax privileges and immunities, and the consequences these have for banking relationships. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeEconomic diplomacy and dispute resolution: Geneva as a centre of law — overview and summary
Geneva’s vocation as a place where disputes are settled through law dates back to the Alabama arbitration of 1872. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeMultilateral economic diplomacy
Geneva is the seat of the World Trade Organization, where the rules of international trade are negotiated and trade disputes between states are settled. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeSwiss international arbitration law
International commercial arbitration is one of the fields in which Switzerland, and Geneva in particular, holds a leading position. That position rests first of all on the law. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeThe institutions: the Swiss Arbitration Centre and the others
Arbitration in Switzerland relies on institutions that administer the proceedings. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeArbitration in commodity trading and finance
Arbitration occupies a particular place in commodity trading, which Parts G and H will describe. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeInvestment arbitration
Arbitration between investors and states, based on bilateral investment treaties and on multilateral conventions, is another field in which Geneva plays a role. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeThe courts and international litigation in Geneva
The Geneva courts handle a substantial volume of international commercial and financial litigation, concerning banking relationships, trading contracts, companies, international successions and the… Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeWhat the centre of law brings to the financial centre
Geneva as a centre of law brings several essential elements to Geneva as a financial centre. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeArbitration in Geneva: a history
Geneva’s tradition of arbitration goes back, beyond the Alabama, to the merchant justice of the medieval fairs, described in Part A, and to the arbitrations to which the dispersed Huguenot merchants… Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeContemporary challenges in arbitration
International arbitration faces several challenges that directly concern Geneva. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeInternational mediation and good offices
Beyond arbitration, Geneva hosts numerous international negotiations and mediations. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeGeneva and international business law
Geneva’s position as a legal centre also rests on the contribution of its institutions and its lawyers to the development of international business law. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeBanking litigation before the Geneva courts
Alongside arbitration, the Geneva courts handle a substantial volume of banking and financial litigation, the nature of which has changed with the financial centre itself. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeInterim measures, attachments and enforcement
A legal centre is also judged by the effectiveness of its emergency measures. Geneva, where assets from all over the world are deposited, is a favoured venue for attachment (séquestre), a protective… Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeDisputes arising from sanctions and asset freezes
International sanctions, examined in Part H, have generated a new type of litigation before the Geneva and federal courts and authorities. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeTraining arbitrators and lawyers: Geneva as a school
A legal centre reproduces itself through training. The University of Geneva, with its law faculty and the master’s programme in international dispute settlement that it organises jointly with the… Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeChecklist: drafting a dispute resolution clause
Choose between arbitration, prior mediation and the state courts, depending on the nature of the transaction, the parties and the places of performance. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financePhilanthropy and impact finance: where wealth meets cooperation — overview and summary
Philanthropy occupies a place in Geneva that the city’s history explains. The tradition of mutual aid born at the time of the Reformation, the Bourse française for refugees, the public-benefit… Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeA tradition and an ecosystem
Geneva has a large number of public-benefit foundations, many of which are linked to wealthy families, to companies, to international organisations or to academic institutions. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeThe legal and tax framework for foundations
The purpose of a foundation under Swiss law is the dedication of assets to a special purpose (Art. 80 CC). Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeThe philanthropic services of the financial centre
Geneva’s private banks, independent asset managers, family offices, lawyers and fiduciaries offer their clients structured philanthropic services. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeImpact finance
Impact finance denotes investments made with the intention of producing a positive and measurable social or environmental effect together with a financial return. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeSustainable finance and its ambiguities
Impact finance forms part of the broader movement of sustainable finance, which grew to considerable proportions during the 2010s and 2020s. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeCriticisms of philanthropy
The philanthropy of great fortunes attracts criticism, in Switzerland as elsewhere. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeMicrofinance: a Geneva case
Microfinance, that is to say the provision of financial services — credit, savings, insurance, payments — to populations excluded from the banking system in developing countries, is one of the… Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeInternational organisations as investors and borrowers
The international organisations and global funds established in Geneva are also financial actors in their own right. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeCrypto-assets and digital assets in the service of humanitarian action
Crypto-assets and digital assets, whose regulatory framework Part K will describe, find applications in humanitarian action and philanthropy. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeThe philanthropy of Geneva families: a long tradition
Several Geneva families have practised philanthropy for generations. The foundations they have created finance museums, cultural institutions, hospitals, university chairs, social works and… Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeMeasuring the effect: methods and limits
The measurement of social or environmental effect is the central difficulty of impact finance and philanthropy. Several methods coexist. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeUmbrella foundations and endowment funds
Creating a foundation requires capital, governance and administration that not every philanthropist wishes to take on. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financePhilanthropy and taxation
In Switzerland, the taxation of philanthropy combines the tax exemption of public-benefit foundations with the deductibility of donations. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financePhilanthropy in the service of International Geneva
A particular circle connects Geneva philanthropy and International Geneva. Private Geneva foundations finance international organisations, humanitarian programmes and initiatives of International… Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeFoundation governance: from the founder to the board
Since a foundation outlives its founder, its governance is the principal issue for its longevity. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeA case: structuring a family commitment
Worked example. A Geneva family wishes to devote CHF 30 million to education in West Africa. Three options are examined with its adviser. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financePhilanthropy and the succession of fortunes
The transfer of fortunes, a central concern of private banking described in Part E, intersects with philanthropy at one precise point: the generation that inherits wants to give meaning to what it… Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeConclusion to Part F
International Geneva and the financial centre share a city, a history and an image. Read more Geneva · International Geneva and financeChecklist: structuring a philanthropic commitment
Define the objectives, the causes and the time horizon of the commitment, as well as the role of the family members. Read more