Philipp Michael Hildebrand (born 19 July 1963) is a Swiss banker who has been serving as a vice chairman of

BlackRock BlackRock, Inc. is an American multi-national investment company based in New York City. Founded in 1988, initially as a risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager, with trill ...

since 2012.Jochelle Mendonca, Emma Thomasson and Sinead Cruise (June 13, 2012)
Former Swiss central bank head to join BlackRock
''

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''. Hildebrand was the head of the Swiss

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the currency and monetary policy of a country or monetary union, and oversees their commercial banking system. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central b ...

, the

Swiss National Bank The Swiss National Bank (SNB; german: Schweizerische Nationalbank; french: Banque nationale suisse; it, Banca nazionale svizzera; rm, Banca naziunala svizra) is the central bank of Switzerland, responsible for the nation's monetary policy an ...

(SNB), from 2010 until he resigned on 9 January 2012 after controversy surrounding his wife's currency trading."Ein Rücktritt sorgt für Glaubwürdigkeit: Kampagne gegen Hildebrand"
''Die Zeit'', n.d. Headline translation (Google): "A withdrawal ensures credibility: Campaign against Hildebrand"; introduction (transl'n; page ("seite") 1): "The head of the Swiss National Bank withdraws. Not because he has violated laws, but to preserve its credibility. a comment". Per the (modestly competent machine) translation of the full page two, the word "smear" or apparent equivalent is not used. He had been a member of the central bank's governing board since 2003.

Early life and education

Hildebrand attended the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

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's Lincoln College, and the

Graduate Institute of International Studies Graduate may refer to: Education * The subject of a graduation, i.e. someone awarded an academic degree ** Alumnus, a former student who has either attended or graduated from an institution * High school graduate, someone who has completed high ...

in Geneva. He was part of a group of students that helped out during the Annual Meetings of the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

in Davos, Switzerland. There, he met leading international government officials and bankers.

Career in the private sector

In 1994 Hildebrand began his professional career at WEF. He subsequently worked at

Moore Capital Management Moore Capital Management LP (MCM) is a New York-based, global investment management firm headquartered in New York, New York. He then worked as head of hedge funds for

Union Bancaire Privée Union Bancaire Privée (UBP SA) is a private bank and wealth management firm headquartered in Geneva. UBP is one of the largest private banks in Switzerland, and serves private and institutional clients. The bank was founded in 1969 by Edgar de P ...

in Geneva and Vontobel in Zurich.

Career at the SNB

Hildebrand was said to be the "youngest ever policy maker" when he joined the SNB in 2003.Goodman, David and Klaus Wille
"Swiss Franc Declines to Three-Week Low Versus Dollar; Hildebrand Will Stay"
''Bloomberg.com'', January 5, 2012 11:15 am ET. Retrieved 2012-01-06. Prior to his resignation from the SNB, Hildebrand was a member of the board of directors of the

Bank for International Settlements The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international financial institution owned by central banks that "fosters international monetary and financial cooperation and serves as a bank for central banks". The BIS carries out its work thr ...

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

, as well as vice-chairman of the

Financial Stability Board The Financial Stability Board (FSB) is an international body that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system. It was established after the G20 London summit in April 2009 as a successor to the Financial Stability Forum ...

. From 2008, he was a member of the

Group of Thirty The Group of Thirty, often abbreviated to G30, is an international body of financiers and academics which aims to deepen understanding of economic and financial issues and to examine consequences of decisions made in the public and private sec ...

Controversy around the 2009/2010 exchange rate interventions

Hildebrand was attacked after losses arising from SNB's exchange rate interventions between March 2009 and June 2010. In this period, the SNB accumulated foreign currency reserves worth over 200 billion Swiss francs (Codes: CHF, SFr). As the Swiss franc has appreciated, the interventions caused losses on SNB foreign currency positions equivalent to 26.5 billion Swiss francs in 2010 and 11.7 billion Swiss francs in the first six months of 2011. The SNB has defended these interventions as they made “sense at the zero lower bound when the traditional monetary policy instrument is exhausted”. Some international press and financial market analysts considered the interventions a “costly failure”. The People's Party (

Schweizerische Volkspartei The Swiss People's Party (german: Schweizerische Volkspartei, SVP; rm, Partida populara Svizra, PPS), also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre (french: Union démocratique du centre, UDC; it, Unione Democratica di Centro, UDC), is a nati ...

(SVP) / Union Démocratique du Centre (UDC)) and the magazine ''Weltwoche'' were critics of Hildebrand, demanding his resignation. Prominent figures of other parties supported Hildebrand and emphasized the political independence of the SNB. In an article titled “With Unsteady Hand”, Switzerland's major business magazine ''Bilanz'' criticized Mr. Hildebrand's leadership of SNB, citing his limited experience and saying that Mr. Hildebrand's actions in large parts seem to be the result of his eagerness to appeal to the public.

Pegging of the Swiss Franc to the Euro since 6 September 2011

Hildebrand is considered a driving force behind the pegging of the Swiss Franc to the Euro announced on 6 September 2011. The central bank commits to undertake transactions to cap the value of the franc against the euro at a maximum of 1.20. In early August, the euro fell to near parity, at 1.00749, against the franc. After initial cautious reactions by analysts, the decision of the Swiss National Bank to aim to keep the Swiss Franc: Euro rate above 1.20 is considered to have been a success.

2011 personal foreign exchange trading and resignation

In August, 2011, Hildebrand's wife KashyaJordans, Frank
"Swiss central bank chief won’t resign over private dollar deals, regrets letting wife prevail"

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via ''

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'', January 5, 2012. Retrieved 2017-01-15. made a CHF 60,000 ($64,400) profit on a currency transaction. At the time, Philipp Hildebrand reported the transaction to the SNB and moved to prevent future such trades with Bank Sarasin. His wife asserted her independent finance and banking experience as the basis for the "almost ridiculously cheap" trade. In January, 2012, Hildebrand denied accusations of insider trading in relation to the transaction, resisted calls for his resignation and called the coverage "a smear campaign". He said that his political foes endangered the secrecy laws and "the interests of Switzerland" with the accusations. "I made mistakes" in not canceling the trade, which profited from the SNB's decision to intervene in the currency markets two days later "but I always acted in line with the rules", he said. The profit in the later report was said to be CHF 75,000. A

whistleblower A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...

alleged to have released the information about the trade has been fired and faces criminal investigations under Swiss banking secrecy laws.Aldrick, Philip
'Switzerland's central bank chairman denies accusations of insider trading'
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'', January 6, 2012, B1. Kashya, who runs an art gallery in Zurich and previously traded currencies, made two other transactions – the three totaled $2 million principal amount – but the other two "didn’t break central bank rules because they were more than six months apart". Philipp "told reporters he had donated all profits made from ... currency deals to a Swiss charitable organization nd... said the Swiss central bank’s rules already meet European standards. Germany’s ...

Handelsblatt The ''Handelsblatt'' (literally "commerce paper" in English) is a German-language business newspaper published in Düsseldorf by Handelsblatt Media Group, formerly known as Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt. History and profile ''Handelsblatt'' was es ...

newspaper questioned this. 'If Hildebrand had been the guardian of the

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

, and not the franc, then the

European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the prime component of the monetary Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's most important centr ...

’s rules would have given imno other option but to resign', the paper wrote." The whistleblower was reported to have given the trade information to

Christoph Blocher Christoph Wolfram Blocher (; born 11 October 1940) is a Swiss industrialist and politician who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2004 to 2007. A member of the Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC), he headed the Federal Department of ...

, vice president of the SVP, and Blocher was one of the lead voices calling for Hildebrand's resignation after the disclosure. '' Die Zeit'' in a strongly worded commentary downplayed any wrongdoing on Hildebrand's part, stressing the evidence was "stolen" and the resignation came only "to maintain credibility" of SNB. Hildebrand announced his resignation on January 9, 2012 stating that “Credibility is a central banker’s most valuable asset,” and that the accusations came “during a time when total focus is needed on the duties.” He also resigned his posts at the Bank for International Settlements and the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster glo ...

. He issued a statement that included copies of E-Mails between his wife, himself, and his banker, showing that he was aware of the controversial trade shortly after the order had been given by his wife, but failed to request that it be immediately cancelled. Hildebrand was succeeded by vice chairman and interim SNB head Thomas Jordan. On 7 March an independent audit by

KPMG KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...

of financial transactions by all members of the governing board of the bank found no breach of regulations occurred.

Later career

In 2012, Hildebrand served as a senior visiting fellow at

’s

Blavatnik School of Government The Blavatnik School of Government is a school of public policy founded in 2010 at the University of Oxford in England. The School was founded following a £75 million donation from a business magnate Leonard Blavatnik, supported by £26 million ...

. In 2020, the Swiss government nominated Hildebrand as its candidate to succeed Angel Gurría in the position of Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for a five-year term. By February 2021, he withdrew his candidacy, citing insufficient levels of support among OECD member countries. On May 30, 2022 he was elected as a President of the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft taking office from July 1, 2022.

Other activities

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, Member of the International Advisory Board *

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees *

, Member of the International Leadership Council *

(IMF), Member of the Board of Governors (2010–2012)

Recognition

* 2011 – "Central Bank Governor of the Year 2012", awarded by ''

The Banker ''The Banker'' is an English-language monthly international financial affairs publication owned by ''The Financial Times'' Ltd. and edited in London, United Kingdom. The magazine was first published in January 1926 through founding Editor, Bren ...

Personal life

Hildebrand was a member of the Swiss national swimming team in the 1980s, and he was Swiss national champion in 1983 and 1984. His partner is Margarita Louis-Dreyfus, the Russian-born Swiss billionaire businesswoman, chairman of Louis Dreyfus and the former owner of Olympique de Marseille football team. On 4 January 2016, it was announced that she is pregnant with twin girls, and is due to give birth in early April. Isabella and Arina were born on 20 March 2016.Gus Trompiz (March 21, 2016)
Commodities tycoon Margarita Louis-Dreyfus gives birth to twins
''

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hildebrand, Philipp 1963 births Living people Chairmen of the Board of Swiss National Bank Swiss male swimmers University of Toronto alumni Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies alumni Group of Thirty