Philipp Hildebrand in the race for an OECD post

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  The Federal Council is sending former SNB President Philipp Hildebrand into the race for the office of Secretary General of the OECD.

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  Angel Gurría does not run again.

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  Philipp Hildebrand had stumbled upon an affair.

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  Philipp Hildebrand currently works for the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock in London.

Philipp Hildebrand is set to become Secretary General of the OECD. The Federal Council sends the former President of the Swiss National Bank (SNB) into the race for the top position in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

“Thanks to his many years of experience in top positions both in the private and public sectors in Switzerland, but also at the international level, Philipp Hildebrand is the ideal candidate,” the Federal Council announced on Wednesday.

The Federal Council undertakes to actively support this Swiss candidacy in the nomination process, which will run until the end of February 2021.

The acting Secretary General of the OECD, Angel Gurría, announced in July that he would not be available for another term. The 70-year-old Mexican has been leading the organization since 2006.

Hildebrand was President of the SNB from 2010 to 2012. He resigned in the wake of the so-called Hildebrand affair. He was accused of insider trading in foreign exchange after bank records became public. An employee of Bank Sarasin stole the documents and sent them to lawyer and SVP politician Hermann Lei (47). Lei again gave the documents to the then SVP National Councilor Christoph Blocher (80). The affair was widespread. The public prosecutor finally decided not to bring proceedings against Hildebrand because the controversial dollar transactions did not violate the penalties of insider trading.

Today Hildebrand is Vice President of the world’s largest asset manager Blackrock. “Blackrock values ​​and supports Philipp Hildebrand’s commitment to Switzerland and his willingness to be available to his home country as a candidate for the office of Secretary General of the OECD,” said Tristan Hahn, communications manager at Blackrock Switzerland.

The OECD is an international organization with 37 member states. Its aim is to coordinate the economic, trade and development policies of its member states. The OECD advises governments and compiles economic guidelines and statistics. The organization was founded in 1961 and is based in Paris. Switzerland is one of the twenty member states that promoted the establishment of the organization from the very beginning.

The predecessor organization of the OECD, the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEF), coordinated the European reconstruction program according to the Marshall Plan after the Second World War. (SDA)