10 Films With a Swiss Banking Theme

Movies provide the perfect mix of learning and pleasure. Typical lists of financial films focus on American classics – from blockbusters like Trading Places and The Wolf of Wallstreet to documentaries like Inside Job and Becoming Warren Buffet. This list from moneyland.ch takes a different approach, offering an overview of movies related to finance and banking that are Swiss or have a Swiss theme.

1. Private Banking

This Swiss-French coproduction is set against the turmoil that followed the changes to bank customer secrecy laws. By way of a typical modern Swiss TV drama, it offers interesting perspectives on the impact of these changes on the Swiss private banking sector. (Audio: German. Subtitles: English, French, German)

2. Azor

Set in the 1980s, this film follows a Swiss private banker as he navigates the political landscape of Argentina at that time. While both Argentina and quiet suspense feature more prominently than Swiss banking, the film does give some insights into the role of Swiss private bankers in international asset management. (Audio: French and Spanish. Subtitles: English, French, German)

3. Silver Bears

Lovers of vintage films might appreciate this 1970s British comedy. Michael Caine stars as an accountant who is given the task of buying a Swiss bank on behalf of his Mafia employers for the purpose of money laundering.

4. The Swiss conspiracy

Another piece of 1970s memorabilia. This somewhat budget US-German action film follows the efforts of a private investigator hired by a Swiss bank to track down criminals who use stolen account information to blackmail the bank and its customers.

5. Der Postraub des Jahrhunderts

This documentary-style film investigates one of the biggest thefts in Swiss history – the 1997 robbery of the Fraumünster post office in Zurich. The robbers made off with 53 million Swiss francs in cash in a heist that lasted just a few minutes, but were eventually tracked down and arrested. (Audio: German and Italian. Subtitles: French, German, Italian)

6. Fintech Made in Switzerland

In this documentary, Swiss filmmaker Manuel Stagars looks at Switzerland’s financial technology industry, and how it compares to the fintech sector on an international level.

7. The Blockchain and Us

Another Manuel Stagars production, this documentary deals with blockchain technology. By way of interviews with experts in the space, the documentary explores the possibilities presented by distributed ledger technologies.

8. Offshore – Elmer and the Swiss Bank Secrecy

This film documents the controversial case of Rudolf Elmer, a bank employee accused of breaking bank customer privacy laws by leaking sensitive customer information to the media. (Audio: German. Subtitles: English, French, German)

9. Game Over – The Fall of Credit Suisse

The disappearance of Credit Suisse, which had long been a flagship of Swiss banking, came as a surprise to many people. This documentary film explores the history leading up to the Credit Suisse insolvency. Amidst interviews and opinions, it provides a glimpse of the challenges faced by large international banks and the Swiss financial marketplace. (Audio: German. Subtitles: English, French)

10. Kleine Fische

In this Swiss comedy, a group of small-town acquaintances give up their upstanding lives for an attempt to become bank robbers. (Audio: Swiss-German. Subtitles: French, German, Italian)

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