ZURICH — Zurich prosecutors have charged Swiss financial journalist Lukas Haessig with violating banking secrecy laws, a move stemming from his investigative reporting on Pierin Vincenz, the former chief executive of Raiffeisen Bank Switzerland. Haessig announced the charges this week on his financial blog, Inside Paradeplatz.
The legal action follows a series of articles published by the Zurich-based blog in 2016. That reporting detailed the business activities of Vincenz and his partner, Beat Stocker, leading to a high-profile corporate criminal trial. Both men were subsequently found guilty of fraud in April 2022, a verdict that remains under review by a higher court with a ruling anticipated in January 2027.
The investigation into the journalist escalated in June 2025 when police searched Haessig's home and the office of Inside Paradeplatz, seizing evidence related to suspected breaches of Swiss banking law. Although prosecutors initially dropped the case in December 2025, Zurich's High Court ruled in April following a complaint by Stocker that a formal court must interpret how the banking secrecy provision applies.
Under Article 47 of the Swiss Banking Act, disclosing confidential information leaked by bank insiders carries penalties of up to three years in prison or a fine. No court date has been scheduled, and prosecutors maintain that the presumption of innocence applies to Haessig.
The charges have drawn criticism from press freedom advocates. Reporters Without Borders Switzerland condemned the prosecution as troubling, arguing that Article 47 should not target journalists. The organization emphasized that Inside Paradeplatz's reporting served the public interest and warned that the banking secrecy statute exerts a chilling effect while highlighting legal shortcomings regarding press freedom in Switzerland.