Not long ago, former Swiss Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz declared the country's famous banking secrecy laws off limits – suggesting that this was a nut too hard to crack for foreign powers. Today, even hardline supporters in Switzerland are making jokes about the issue. Will this prompt the emergence of an entirely new concept of what Swiss banking is all about?

The Swiss People's Party election campaign «Welcome to SVP» – in a mock reference to Swiss DJ Antoine's «Welcome to St. Tropez» - has it all: the party bigwigs show themselves in uncharacteristic situations. But perhaps more significantly still, the campaign displays a hitherto unheard of understanding of Swiss banking by otherwise staunch supporters of the country's secrecy laws.

Thomas Matter, for many the embodiment of a Swiss banker, adopts a pose that would have been unthinkable only a few years ago: He shovels money into a washing machine, evoking the biggest stereotype about Swiss banking - now what will Switzerland's foreign partners make of this?

Goodbye With a Wink

The picture is an audacious one - after all, Matter counts as one of the last defenders of Helvetic banking traditions. He's the man behind the move to force a referendum on banking secrecy that has a good chance of passing a popular vote even in the face of opposition from the government and the Swiss Bankers Association.

 Thomas Matter 503

Just maybe, this photograph of a laughing money launderer will become a symbol of the much talked about volte-face of the Swiss banking establishment, following the theme of «long live our traditions and a warm welcome to the new reality». A Swiss banking industry in other words that tries to impress on the world that the Swiss financial market has come a long way, in spite of what everybody seems to think.

This Switzerland has come to terms with its past and is now ready to crack jokes about it, even if the country will labor with the implications of money laundering for a while to come, as recent events have shown.