Next stop: Paradeplatz

The Zurich Regional Group of Public Eye invites you to join a critical walking tour through the heart of the Swiss banking sector. At six stops along the route from Lindenhof, down Bahnhofstrasse to Bürkliplatz, we’ll delve into the history and present-day reality of one of the world’s most important financial centres.

The tour begins in the 19th century, when the foundations of the modern banking system were laid – and concludes with the question of what a more sustainable financial policy might look like. We’ll examine how banking secrecy came about and the role it plays – or has played – in tax evasion and money laundering. We’ll ask what interests politicians are pursuing – and whose interests are being neglected in the process. And we take a closer look when things get uncomfortable: at dubious transactions and investments; at legal but questionable deals; at a profit-driven financial system whose effects shape the lives of millions of people in the Global South.