Key facts
- Journalist Lukas Haessig charged with violating banking secrecy.
- Charges relate to reporting on former Raiffeisen Bank Switzerland CEO Pierin Vincenz.
- Vincenz and partner Beat Stocker were found guilty of fraud in April 2022.
- Article 47 of the Swiss Banking Act criminalizes disclosure of confidential information.
- Reporters Without Borders Switzerland called the charges troubling.
Zurich prosecutors this week charged Swiss journalist Lukas Haessig with violating banking secrecy over reporting that led to the criminal trial of the former boss of Raiffeisen Bank Switzerland, Haessig said on his financial blog Inside Paradeplatz. The charges stem from articles published in 2016 about Pierin Vincenz, former CEO of Raiffeisen Bank Switzerland, and his business partner Beat Stocker. Vincenz and Stocker were found guilty of fraud in April 2022, a verdict currently under review by a higher court expected to rule in January 2027. Police searched Haessig's office and home in June 2025, seizing evidence linked to suspected violations of Swiss banking law. Prosecutors had dropped the case in December 2025, but Zurich's High Court ordered a decision on how the banking secrecy provision should be interpreted after a complaint by Stocker. Article 47 of the Swiss Banking Act criminalizes the disclosure of confidential information leaked by bank insiders, with penalties of up to three years in prison or a fine. Reporters Without Borders Switzerland called the charges troubling and stated that Article 47 must not be used to prosecute journalists.