Fritz Zurbrügg: After the storm - ten years on, how weatherproof is the Swiss banking system today?

Speech by Mr Fritz Zurbrügg, Vice Chairman of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank, at the University of Lucerne, Lucerne, 6 September 2018.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Ladies and Gentlemen

Almost exactly ten years ago, on 15 September 2008, Lehman Brothers, the fourth-largest US investment bank at the time, filed for bankruptcy. The ensuing storm engulfed the global financial markets with a ferocity and magnitude that took all market observers by surprise. The collapse of Lehman Brothers made it clear that many financial institutions could not withstand such a buffeting without government support. The financial crisis spilled over rapidly into the real economy, resulting in the deepest global recession since the Great Depression.