The institutionalization of the fight against white-collar crime in Switzerland, 1970-1990

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Serval ID
serval:BIB_3BB04CC31DB4
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
The institutionalization of the fight against white-collar crime in Switzerland, 1970-1990
Journal
Business History
Author(s)
Giddey Thibaud
ISSN
0007-6791
1743-7938
Publication state
Published
Issued date
03/10/2022
Volume
64
Number
7
Pages
1185-1210
Language
english
Abstract
During the 1970s and 1980s, economic and financial crime turned into a societal issue in Switzerland. The perpetrators of white-collar crime often enjoyed total impunity: legal proceedings were very time consuming, authorities in charge of judicial investigation were under-resourced. This paper investigates how the political and judicial authorities responded to this challenge. By the end of the 1980s, a strong shift towards a more specialized handling of financial crime by public prosecutors occurred. Specialized departments were set up and judges were trained in commercial matters. This transformation breached with a long tradition of leniency and inefficient judicial handling of economic
crime. Based on archival evidence, this paper sheds new light on the drivers of an institutionalization process which affected not only the Swiss financial centre, but also all the global judicial proceedings which relied on it. Professionalizing the response to financial crime also aimed at restoring the corporate reputation of Swiss financial firms, in a context of growing competition among offshore financial centers.
Keywords
History, Business, Management and Accounting (miscellaneous), Business and International Management
Web of science
Open Access
Yes
Create date
07/01/2021 11:04
Last modification date
04/04/2023 5:53
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