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54-511: The Swiss Private Bankers Association is a Swiss trade association made up of banking institutions that meet the legal definition of a private banker according to Swiss law . It is based in Geneva , Switzerland, and currently has six members. The Swiss Private Bankers Association was founded in 1934 following the enactment of the Federal Act on Banks and Saving Banks, which recognised

108-569: A social market economy , the role of trade associations is often taken by employers' organizations , which also take a role in social dialogue . One of the primary purposes of trade groups, particularly in the United States, is to attempt to influence public policy in a direction favorable to the group's members. It can take the form of contributions to the campaigns of political candidates and parties through political action committees (PACs); contributions to "issue" campaigns not tied to

162-675: A Republic. These Protestant refugees were members of the merchant class and were equipped with substantial wealth, commercial and financial know-how, and personal connections in all the main European cities. Present in every international market, over time they built up a unique expertise in bills of exchange , precious metals and credits . 'This created favourable conditions for bankers in Geneva to engage in transactions that were not directly connected to trade, enabling them to further develop their activities beyond their borders'. Shortly before

216-583: A candidate or party; and lobbying legislators to support or oppose particular legislation. In addition, trade groups attempt to influence the activities of regulatory bodies . In the United States, direct contributions by PACs to candidates are required to be disclosed to the Federal Election Commission or state and local election overseers; are considered public information; and have registration requirements for lobbyists (FEC: Lobbyist). Even so, it can sometimes be difficult to trace

270-673: A limited company. To prevent improper use of the term ‘private banker’ by people or institutions that do not meet the legal definition, the Swiss Private Bankers Association registered ‘private banker’ and its linguistic variations with the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property in 1997. The SPBA has had exclusive control of the ‘private banker’ trademark in Switzerland since that time. Trade association In countries with

324-904: A market. In September 2007, the German trade association for Fachverband Verbindungs- und Befestigungstechnik (VBT) and five fastener companies were fined 303 million euros by the European Commission for operating cartels in the markets for fasteners and attaching machines in Europe and worldwide. In one of the cartels, the YKK Group , Coats plc , the Prym group, the Scovill group, A. Raymond, and Berning & Söhne "agreed [...] on coordinated price increases in annual 'price rounds' with respect to 'other fasteners' and their attaching machines, in

378-593: A new private bank was established during this period. Reichmuth & Co in Luzern was founded in 1996 and joined the Swiss Private Bankers Association in 2003. At the beginning of 2014, the Swiss Private Bankers Association had lost five of its remaining 12 members: to adapt to the requirements international financial centres unfamiliar with the traditional Swiss definition of a private banker, some private bankers chose to break with ‘more than 200 years of history’ by changing their structure to limited liability companies. This

432-530: A private banker with unlimited liability for the commitments of the bank. A new organisation, the Association of Swiss Private Banks , was founded on 1 January 2014: its articles of association allow it to admit as members both limited companies and traditional private bankers. The Swiss Private Bankers Association remains active today, with six members. In Switzerland, the Federal Law on Banks defines

486-500: A specific corporate product, such as a specific brand of cheese or toilet paper, industry trade groups advertisements generally are targeted to promote the views of an entire industry. These ads mention only the industry's products as a whole, painting them in a positive light in order to have the public form positive associations with that industry and its products. For example, in the US the advertising campaign "Beef. It's what's for dinner"

540-598: A time of consolidation for the private banking sector. According to Swiss National Bank statistics, there were 81 private bankers in Switzerland at the end of 1941, but only 17 in 2000. This consolidation took three different forms: First, several private bankers, such as Ehinger & Co. in Basel or Ferrier Lullin & Cie in Geneva, were acquired by large Swiss banking groups. Second, some private bankers changed their legal structure, becoming listed or unlisted limited liability companies mainly to resolve succession issues or as

594-524: A way of financing their growth, such as Julius Baer & Cie in 1975, Vontobel in 1984 and Sarasin in 1986. Third, some private bankers simply disappeared, such as the Geneva bank Leclerc & Cie, which closed in 1977, or the St. Gallen-based bank Wegelin & Co., which was forced to sell most of its operations to Raiffeisen Group in 2012 following a tax-evasion dispute opposing the United States authorities to many Swiss banks. Despite this consolidation,

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648-894: A widespread and prolonged fear of a potential third world war between nuclear-armed powers. It is often suggested that it would become a nuclear war , and be more devastating and violent than both the First and Second World Wars. Albert Einstein is often quoted as having said in 1947 that "I know not with what weapons World War   III will be fought, but World War   IV will be fought with sticks and stones." It has been anticipated and planned for by military and civil authorities, and it has also been explored in fiction . Scenarios have ranged from conventional warfare to limited or total nuclear warfare. Various former government officials, politicians, authors, and military leaders (including James Woolsey , Alexandre de Marenches , Eliot Cohen , and Subcomandante Marcos ) have attempted to apply

702-403: A worldwide conflict. That caused a very minute conflict between two countries to have the potential to set off a domino effect of alliances, triggering a world war. The fact that the powers involved had large overseas empires virtually guaranteed that such a war would be worldwide, as the colonies' resources would be a crucial strategic factor. The same strategic considerations also ensured that

756-488: A ‘private banker’ as any bank organised as a sole proprietorship, general partnership, limited partnership or limited stock partnership, in which one or more partner bears unlimited liability for all the commitments entered into by the bank. This is one of the main characteristics of private bankers. The term ‘private bankers’ is often confused with the term ‘private bank’, which refers more broadly to any bank focusing on private wealth management, most of which are structured as

810-519: Is often an important reason why companies join a trade association in the first place. Examples of larger trade associations that publish a comprehensive range of media include European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). Industry trade groups sometimes produce advertisements, just as normal corporations do. However, whereas typical advertisements are for

864-842: Is the only conflict in which nuclear weapons have been used; both Hiroshima and Nagasaki , in the Japanese Empire , were devastated by atomic bombs dropped by the United States. The main Axis powers were Nazi Germany , the Empire of Japan , and the Kingdom of Italy ; while the United Kingdom , the United States , the Soviet Union and China were the " Big Four " Allied powers. Nazi Germany , led by Adolf Hitler ,

918-560: Is used by Karl Marx and his associate, Friedrich Engels , in a series of articles published around 1850 called The Class Struggles in France . Rasmus B. Anderson in 1889 described an episode in Teutonic mythology as a "world war" (Swedish: världskrig ), justifying this description by a line in an Old Norse epic poem, " Völuspá : folcvig fyrst I heimi" ("The first great war in the world"). German writer August Wilhelm Otto Niemann used

972-847: Is used by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association to promote a positive image of beef in the public consciousness. These are adverts targeted at specific issues. For example, in the US in the early 2000s the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) began running advertisements before films that advocate against movie piracy over the Internet. Trade associations have faced frequent criticism due to allegations that they operate not as profit-making organizations, but rather as fronts for cartels involved in anti-competitive practices . Critics contend that these associations engage in activities such as price-fixing ,

1026-807: The Bankverein and the Kleiner Bankverein . The former set up the Basler Bankverein , the ancestor of SBC, in 1872, while the latter founded the Basler Handelsbank , purchased by SBC in 1945. The Swiss Private Bankers Association was founded in Bern, on 29 November 1934, following the adoption of the new Federal Act on Banks and Savings Banks on 8 November 1934. The law recognised the special status of private bankers but also suggested ‘closer collaboration’ amongst them. The aim of

1080-1105: The Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 "the World War of the 7th century" because it evolved into a war between the fourfold alliance of the Chinese Empire , the Western Turkic Khaganate , the Khazars , and the Byzantine Empire against a triple union of the Sasanian Empire , the Avars , and the Eastern Turkic Khaganate , with proxy conflicts in Afro-Eurasia (like the Aksumite–Persian wars ) and across

1134-540: The French Revolution , Geneva bankers discovered a new area in which 'they would excel from then on': wealth management , which to this day remains a main focus for Swiss private bankers. 'They were often [...] capitalists who invested their own wealth, along with that of their family members or friends'. Most of the Swiss private banking houses were established around this time, mid-eighteenth century. They were

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1188-931: The Nine Years' War (1689–1697), the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748), the French Revolutionary Wars (1792–1802), and the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815). British historian John Robert Seeley dubbed all of those wars between France and Great Britain (later the UK) between 1689 and 1815 (including the American Revolutionary War from 1775 to 1783) as

1242-645: The Nine Years' War , the War of the Spanish Succession , the Seven Years' War , the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , the Cold War , and the War on Terror . The Oxford English Dictionary cited the first known usage in the English language to a Scottish newspaper, The People's Journal , in 1848: "A war among the great powers is now necessarily a world-war." The term "world war"

1296-963: The Old World . Others consider that the Ottoman–Portuguese confrontations and Ottoman–Habsburg wars can be considered as world conflicts, prototypes of the " Great Game " in Eurasia and the Scramble for Africa , but between two main power-projecting and religious blocs, the Ottomans , as holders of the Muslim Caliphate , and the Habsburgs , as Holy Roman Emperor . However, the Americas and Oceania were not involved in those conflicts, in which case, other historians consider

1350-723: The Second Hundred Years' War , echoing an earlier period of conflict between France and England known as the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453). Some writers have referred to the American Revolutionary War alone as a world war. Others (like William R. Thompson or Chase-Dunn and Sokolovsky) also wants to include the Italian Wars and Dutch wars [ Dutch-Spanish and Anglo-Dutch Wars ] as part of Global Wars, while clasificating WW1 and WW2 as

1404-645: The Thirty Years' War and Eighty Years' War (specially Iberian–Dutch War ) as the first global conflict, pitting the Spanish and Portuguese Empires against the French , Dutch , and British Empires and their allies (mostly Protestants , like Danish and Swedish oversea expeditions) across the five continents. Another possible example is the Second Congo War (1998–2003) even though it

1458-473: The Yemeni civil war (2014–present), and their worldwide spillovers are sometimes described as proxy wars waged by the United States and Russia, which led some commentators to characterize the situation as a "proto-world war", with many countries embroiled in overlapping conflicts. The Seven Years' War (1754/56–1763) was fought across all of North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America. Most of

1512-540: The Global German Wars , and the Coalition Wars with Wars of Louis XIV as the 2nd and 1st Global French Wars . However, other historians prefer to see all of those conflicts as "Hegemonic Wars" or "General Wars", been inter-regional wars on the grand scale, but not worldly. Other historians suggest even earlier conflicts to be world wars. For example, Russian ethnologist L. N. Gumilyov called

1566-770: The United States, outlined the potentially anti-competitive nature of some trade association activity in a speech to the American Bar Association in Washington, DC , in March 2005 called "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Trade Associations and Antitrust ". For instance, he said that under the guise of "standard setting", trade associations representing the established players in an industry can set rules that make it harder for new companies to enter

1620-794: The ancestors of the Swiss Private Bankers Association: the Quatuor (1840) and the Omnium (1849), followed by Union financière de Genève (1890), which remained active until December 2013 under the name Groupement des Banquiers Privés Genevois . In Basel, where the sector emerges much later than in Geneva, around the mid-19th century, Private bankers were responsible for founding the Swiss Bank Corporation (which merged with UBS in 1998). Indeed, Basel private bankers created two separate banking syndicates,

1674-767: The association was to represent ‘the professional interests of private bankers’. Forty-eight banks applied to become members. Its first Chairman was Max Ernst Bodmer. With two World Wars , the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression , the first half of the 20th century was a difficult period for private bankers. However, the end of the Second World War allowed private bankers to grow more vigorously than ever before and to position themselves as ‘the recognised specialists in wealth management’. Several factors contributed to their success:

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1728-685: The combatants would strike at each other's colonies, thus spreading the wars far more widely than those of pre-Columbian times. War crimes were perpetrated in World War I. Chemical weapons were used in the war despite the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 having outlawed the use of such weapons in warfare. The Ottoman Empire was responsible for the Armenian genocide , during the First World War, as well as other war crimes. The Second World War occurred from 1939 to 1945 and

1782-618: The conflict, many ethnic Germans were later expelled from Eastern Europe . Japan was responsible for attacking neutral nations without a declaration of war , such as the attack on Pearl Harbor . It is also known for its brutal treatment and killing of Allied prisoners of war and the inhabitants of Asia . It also used Asians as forced laborers and was responsible for the Nanjing Massacre in which 250,000 civilians were brutally murdered by Japanese troops. Noncombatants suffered at least as badly as or worse than combatants , and

1836-401: The creation and maintenance of barriers to entry in the industry, and other subtle self-serving actions that are detrimental to the public interest. These criticisms raise concerns about the true nature and intentions of trade associations, questioning their commitment to fair competition and the welfare of the broader economy. Jon Leibowitz , a commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission in

1890-441: The distinction between combatants and noncombatants was often blurred by the belligerents of total war in both conflicts. The outcome of the war had a profound effect on the course of world history . The old European empires collapsed or they were dismantled as a direct result of the crushing costs of the war and in some cases, their fall was caused by the defeat of imperial powers. The United States became firmly established as

1944-460: The dominant global superpower , along with its close competitor and ideological foe, the Soviet Union . The two superpowers exerted political influence over most of the world's nation-states for decades after the end of the Second World War. The modern international security, economic, and diplomatic system was created in the aftermath of the war. Institutions such as the United Nations were established to collectivize international affairs, with

1998-411: The explicit goal of preventing another outbreak of general war. The wars had also greatly changed the course of daily life. Technologies developed during wartime had a profound effect on peacetime life as well, such as by advances in jet aircraft , penicillin , nuclear energy , and electronic computers . Since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the Second World War, there has been

2052-446: The fact that Switzerland had remained outside the conflicts that ravaged the rest of Europe, ‘the country's exceptional political stability’, the acceleration of banking and financial disintermediation in the 1980s and 1990s, the globalisation and deregulation of financial markets , and the liberalisation of capital flows . These developments boosted wealth management. The second half of the 20th century was, somewhat paradoxically, also

2106-442: The first world war in the full sense of the word", citing a wire service report in the Indianapolis Star on 20 September 1914. In English, the term "First World War" had been used by Lieutenant Colonel Charles à Court Repington , as a title for his memoirs (published in 1920); he had noted his discussion on the matter with a Major Johnstone of Harvard University in his diary entry of September 10, 1918. The term "World War I"

2160-423: The form of credit banks structured as limited liability companies . In Geneva, during the last quarter of the 19th century, 'competition intensified due to the establishment [...] of the first foreign banks' followed, in the early 20th century, by large Swiss banks. To bolster their position in relation to competitors of a new kind, private bankers created the first permanent banking syndicates, which can be seen as

2214-458: The framework of work circles organised by VBT". World War A world war is an international conflict that involves most or all of the world's major powers . Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1945), although some historians have also characterised other global conflicts as world wars, such as

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2268-452: The funding for issue and non-electoral campaigns. In Slovenia , the government 's approach to consulting business associations has been noted by the European Commission as a good practice example. Almost all trade associations are heavily involved in publishing activities in print and online. The main media published by trade associations are as follows: The opportunity to be promoted in such media (whether by editorial or advertising)

2322-403: The great powers of the era participated, notably including the British Empire and French Empire , but polities from many continents played important roles. Some historians call it "World War Zero" as a result. Historians like Richard F. Hamilton and Holger H. Herwig created a list of eight world wars, including the two generally agreed-upon world wars, the Seven Years' War, and five others:

2376-413: The labels of the "Third World War" and the "Fourth World War" to various past and present global wars since the end of the Second World War, such as the Cold War and the war on terror respectively. During the early 21st century, the war in Afghanistan (2001–2021), the Arab Spring (2010–2012), the Syrian civil war (2011–present), the Iraq War (2003–2011), the Russo-Ukrainian War (2014–present),

2430-413: The most influential players in the Swiss banking system. The defining characteristic of their legal structure was the unlimited liability of partners. The pioneers included : However, private bankers were unable to meet the increasing need for finance brought about by the rapid development of industry in the second half of the 19th century. It was around this time that their first rivals appeared, in

2484-585: The special status of private bankers. Its permanent secretariat is based in Geneva. The objective of the Swiss Private Bankers Association, as defined in its articles of association , is to represent the concerns and interests of its members to the Swiss government authorities, among others. The history of private bankers in Switzerland is closely linked to the country's economic development as well as that of its main cities: Basel , Bern , Geneva , Lausanne , Luzern , Neuchâtel , St. Gallen and Zürich . Most private bankers began as trading houses, evolving over

2538-419: The term "world war" in the title of his anti-British novel, Der Weltkrieg: Deutsche Träume ( The World War: German Dreams ) in 1904, published in English as The Coming Conquest of England . The term "first world war" was first used in September 1914 by German biologist and philosopher Ernst Haeckel , who claimed that "there is no doubt that the course and character of the feared 'European War' ... will become

2592-451: The term on its front page, saying "The Second World War broke out yesterday at 11 a.m." Speculative fiction authors had been noting the concept of a Second World War in 1919 and 1920, when Milo Hastings wrote his dystopian novel, City of Endless Night . Other languages have also adopted the "world war" terminology; for example, in French , "world war" is translated as guerre mondiale ; in German , Weltkrieg (which, prior to

2646-427: The war, had been used in the more abstract meaning of a global conflict); in Italian , guerra mondiale ; in Spanish and Portuguese , guerra mundial ; in Danish and Norwegian , verdenskrig ; in Russian , мировая война ( mirovaya voyna ); and in Finnish , maailmansota . The First World War occurred from 1914 to 1918. In terms of human technological history , the scale of World War   I

2700-420: The years into financial institutions. In Basel, the Reformation of 1521 brought large numbers of refugees to the city, where they grew prosperous from the silk trade. This development turned Basel into a main centre of banking and finance. The history of private bankers in Geneva started around 1550, with the influx of Huguenots fleeing persecution in France shortly after the city of Calvin proclaimed itself

2754-421: Was coined by Time magazine on page 28 of its June 12, 1939, issue. In the same article, on page 32, the term "World War   II" was first used speculatively to describe the upcoming war. The first use for the actual war came in its issue of September 11, 1939. One week earlier, on September 4, the day after France and the United Kingdom declared war on Germany, the Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad used

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2808-427: Was enabled by the technological advances of the Second Industrial Revolution and the resulting globalization that allowed global power projection and mass production of military hardware. It had been recognized that the complex system of opposing military alliances (the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires against the British , Italian , Russian , and French Empires) was likely, if war broke out, to lead to

2862-426: Was responsible for genocides , most notably the Holocaust , which murdered demographics considered Untermensch by the Nazis. These included about six million Jews and about five million others, such as Slavs , Roma , homosexuals , and the physically and mentally disabled. The United States , the Soviet Union , and Canada deported and interned minority groups within their own borders and, largely because of

2916-413: Was the case for Landolt & Cie in January 2013 followed in February 2013 by Pictet & Cie and Lombard Odier & Cie. Several months later, Mirabaud & Cie and La Roche & Cie followed suit. In February 2016, Gonet & Cie abandoned its private banker structure and became a holding company organised as a limited liability company. As a result, these banks no longer met the legal definition of

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