Gnomes of Zürich

Gnomes of Zürich is a disparaging term for Swiss bankers. Swiss bankers are popularly associated with extremely secretive policies, while gnomes in fairy tales live underground, in secret, counting their riches. Zürich is the commercial center of Switzerland.

History

After the second world war, Labour Politicians were worried about the undermining of their post-war economic regime due to possibility of high speculation against the pound. The economic growth in United Kingdom was low, only half of that of Germany and France.The demand for pound sterling started to fall.

The Swiss Bankers were already being criticised in Britain since the 1950s. The term first originated in the crisis meeting of the Labour Politicians in November 1964. The politicians blamed the Swiss Bankers for raising speculation against the pound. During the meeting, politician George Brown criticised the Swiss Bankers. He said: " The Gnomes of Zurich are at work again." Since then the term "Gnomes Of Zurich" caught on, and was used by many other politicians at the time. Then Prime Minister, Harold Wilson vowed to resist the gnomes' sinister power. Gnomes originated in European folklore and are depicted to be greedy.

Paul Rossy, a top banker in Zurich at the time stated "In the world it is not the image, but the substance behind the image which counts." The phrase was adopted by the Americans as well.

Impact

Soon after the catchphrase becoming famous, a few Swiss bankers started answering their phone as " hello, gnome speaking". An audacious Swiss banker moved to London in order to set up his business and named it "Gnome of Notting Hill".

In recent decades, the Zurich bankers have lost the foothold they had in the global economy due to the rise of London, New York, Dubai and Hong Kong as leading financial capitals. The Zurich Money Museum displays the sculpture of a gnome. Jurg Conzett of Zurich Money Museum says that nowadays, bankers see gnome as a noble title. Bankers currently based in London agitated by the rising taxes, stricter regulation and public animosity towards investment barking [sic] are speculating moving in large numbers to Zurich itself where banking is "the state religion".

Other uses

The phrase is reflected in the traditions of the Zürich Grasshoppers Rugby Club, whose mascot is a gnome and which occasionally plays a third/casual team called "The Gnomes".

Gnomes of Zurich is also the name of a classic rock band from North East England, and a 1990's psychedelic rock band from Minneapolis.

The Gnomes of Zurich are one of the playable Illuminati in Steve Jackson's card game of conspiracy, Illuminati. Their goal is to collect a specified amount of megabucks, the game's currency.