Hans Meyer, the SNB man who preferred systems to speeches, dies at 90

Hans Meyer is dead at 90, and with him goes a piece of the Swiss National Bank’s old-school discipline. The bank announced his death in a notice published in the Tages-Anzeiger, saying he died on 17 June. In an age that likes to dress up every institutional job as a public performance, Meyer’s career reads more like a manual for quiet statecraft: no drama, no slogans, just long service and a fondness for functioning systems.

Meyer spent his entire professional life at the SNB. He joined as secretary general in 1972, became a deputy member of the governing board in 1977 and a full member in 1985. From 1988 to 1996 he served as vice president, before taking over the presidency of the governing board from 1996 to 2000. That is a long climb through a bank that prefers continuity to improvisation, and in this case the preference seems to have paid off.

According to the SNB, Meyer helped shape Swiss monetary policy over roughly 30 years. He supported the revision of the currency constitution, introduced the monetary policy concept that still applies today and oversaw the reorganisation of cash circulation. He also worked on modernising payment systems and on more up-to-date business processes inside the bank. Central banking rarely produces heroes, which is probably just as well. It does, however, reward people who can tell the difference between reform and theatre.

The SNB also credits Meyer with playing a major role in the creation of the Gerzensee study centre. In its obituary, the bank described him as factual, reliable and modest, with a strong sense for practical solutions. That is not the sort of praise that fills banquet halls, but it is the kind that matters when an institution is supposed to guard monetary stability rather than entertain the public.

For Switzerland, which likes to think of itself as prudent, prosperous and mildly above the continental fray, figures like Meyer belong to a more serious tradition. They remind one that a strong economy does not run on declarations and symbolism, but on people who understand rules, process and restraint. The country has been lucky to have such people. Whether it still produces them with the same consistency is a different question altogether.

Written by Thomas Nussbaumer thomas.nussbaumer@alpineweekly.com