Chapter 3 Part 1: Cracking the Code - Inside UBS's Secret Playbook
Birkenfeld lands in Switzerland in 1995 with a busted career and a plan: get an MBA, reset, and come back swinging. He enrolls at a small American university near Lake Geneva, studies hard, parties harder, skis every mountain he can find, and meets a girl named Charlotte.
But the real story starts when he gets hired.
Getting Into Credit Suisse
Before even finishing his final exams, Birkenfeld lands a job at Credit Suisse. Starting salary: 150,000 Swiss francs. That is four times what he made at State Street. Plus a Swiss work permit and four weeks vacation.
How did he pull it off? During his interview with Dr. Reto Callegari, he flipped the script. Instead of just answering questions, he asked the interviewer: “What are your top three problems at the bank?” Bold move. Then he called an old contact at Credit Suisse in New York who sent a glowing email on his behalf. One week later, he had the offer.
His actual job? Learn the ropes. Seriously. Show up, dress nice, enjoy long lunches, write his MBA dissertation about Credit Suisse. Get paid handsomely to absorb the culture of Swiss private banking.
A Quick History of Swiss Secret Banking
Here is where the book drops a fascinating history lesson. Swiss bank secrecy goes back centuries, but the real turning point was 1934 when bank secrecy got written into the Swiss Constitution. From that moment, revealing a client’s identity could land a banker in prison.
The timing was not accidental. The Nazis were rising to power. Fascists across Europe loved having a safe place to stash stolen money. Jews fleeing persecution deposited their savings too, hoping the money would survive even if they did not. Most of them did not survive. Billions vanished into Swiss bank vaults.
By the early 2000s, Geneva alone had 130+ private banks. One bank per city block. Dictators, politicians, oil barons, mafia, movie stars, even Vatican priests – all hiding money in numbered accounts. You actually paid the Swiss a fee for the privilege. No interest earned. Just secrecy.
And money nobody knows about is money nobody can tax.
From Credit Suisse to Barclays
Back to Birkenfeld. He notices something wild at Credit Suisse: hundreds of millions from North American clients sitting in the vaults, and nobody is visiting them. No schmoozing. No marketing trips. Nothing. He convinces his boss to let him organize a client tour across Toronto, Boston, and Bermuda. Two weeks of five-star hotels, hockey games, cigars, and cognac. Six wealthy clients come back ready to hand over their fortunes.
Then his boss drops a bomb: “I just resigned from Credit Suisse. I am going to Barclays. And you are coming with me.”
Salary bumps to $200,000. Same gorgeous flat in Geneva. At Barclays, the same pattern repeats. Zurich is closing operations and dumping all their North American accounts onto Geneva. Nobody is servicing these clients either. Birkenfeld compiles a list of secret account holders, flies to Canada and the US, and starts wining and dining them at places like Peter Luger in Manhattan. Limos, five-star hotels, fat steaks, cigars.
The pitch was subtle. He would casually suggest these wealthy men might enjoy a “vacation” to Geneva. The mountains, the restaurants, the shopping. And oh, they could stop by the bank while they were there.
This was the playbook. And Birkenfeld was getting very good at it.
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Part of the Lucifer’s Banker Uncensored series