Since 1895. The world’s oldest banking magazine. With the Issue 4 / 2019 Credit Suisse Worry Barometer 2019 Our legacy What defines us, what we leave behind 075360E WE BUY HEIRLOOMS AND FAMILY TREASURES. As a subsidiary of Gübelin, we would be happy to assist you with the sale of antique jewellery or gemstones. We can help you to best assess their value and market potential. For a consultation, please contact us at: +41 41 429 18 18 www.edigem.com Anzeige_Edigem_CS_Bulletin_220x297.indd 1 12.11.19 12:45 Editorial What we want to leave behind Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once observed, “What you have inherited from your forefathers, earn over again for yourselves or it will not be yours.” In our report on the Young Investors Organization (page 16), a young heiress explains that she has given serious 1 2 3 4 thought to how she wants to use her wealth: “No one needs to remember my name,” she says, “but I want to leave something 1 Viola Steinhoff Werner The Head behind to benefit those who come after me.” of Global Next Generation and This issue is devoted to the multifaceted topic of legacies. Families at Credit Suisse interviewed two fifth-generation descendants We look at the pleasures, as well as the difficulties, of giving and of John D. Rockefeller who want to receiving and ask this question: “What do we want to leave behind?” use the family’s wealth to promote Roger Federer, probably Switzerland’s best-known son, wants to the common good, with the help of free-market tools. Page 14 be remembered as someone who “loved the sport of tennis and played the game as hard as he could with fair play.” He is also passionate 2 Peter Breitschmid An emeritus about his foundation, which has already helped to give more than a professor of law at the University million children a better start in life (page 26). of Zurich, Breitschmid is a noted authority on Swiss inheritance law. Then there is genetics expert Dieter Egli, who is using a new He answers 25 questions, large and procedure that makes it possible to modify the DNA of human small, about estates – including beings, animals and plants. What will we do with this power over explaining why there is a human need nature? (page 38). UNESCO’s Convention for the Safeguarding to leave something behind when we die, and what happens to pets after of the Intangible Cultural Heritage focuses on a very different aspect their owners pass away. Page 4 of legacies. Pizzaioli in Naples, Belgium’s beer culture and shadow 3 Sonja Blaschke and 4 Yasuyuki play in Syria are among the traditions, customs and practices that “make life interesting,” as Convention Secretary Tim Curtis points Takagi, a correspondent who has lived in Tokyo since 2005, and Takagi, out (page 48). the renowned Japanese photographer, In addition, this issue contains intriguing results from the visited one of the oldest companies traditional Credit Suisse Worry Barometer (starting on page 55): in the world, a sake brewery founded in 1141, in search of an answer to Confidence in Swiss institutions has declined by one-fourth. this question: How is it possible for a The relationship between Switzerland and the EU remains tense. company to stay in the same family Switzerland’s economic situation is widely viewed as very positive. for more than 55 generations and be There is a critical need for reforms. How should we interpret these successful? Page 42 results? Federal Councillor Karin Keller-Sutter shares a political Photos: private archive (4) private archive Photos: view, while entrepreneur and philanthropist Jobst Wagner offers an economic perspective. Happy reading! Your editorial team Cover: Haenyeo divers, who live on an island off the coast of South Korea, are part of the intangible cultural heritage that UNESCO seeks Cover: Lim Jungja, Hamo Jeju, 2014, photo: Hyung S. Kim Hyung S. photo: 2014, Hamo Jeju, Lim Jungja, Cover: Page 48 to preserve. Bulletin 4 / 2019 1 A legacy with a future. 200 years of Alfred Escher. The entrepreneurial foresight of our founder still shapes our thoughts and actions today. As a strong financial partner, we support our clients worldwide. credit-suisse.com Copyright © 2019 Credit Suisse Group AG and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 25135_220x297_BulletinFeb19_par_EN.indd 1 21.02.19 11:23 Contents 4 Inheritance 101 Who? How much? Why? Peter Breitschmid, a professor of inheritance law, explains. 10 Switzerland’s lifeline How tourism came to the mountains. 14 “Philanthropy is the glue that keeps us together” Valerie and Justin Rockefeller on aligning values and investments. 16 “No one needs to remember my name” Meeting with members of the Young Investors Organization (YIO). 23 The last log-in 16 Louise Huterstein (30) believes in doing good How to manage digital estates. and being commercially successful. Concerns Reform backlog 56 Economy and work Switzerland’s doing fine 60 Interview with Jobst Wagner “Don’t delegate Credit Suisse your own responsibility” 62 Confidence and identity Confidence is dwindling 64 Year of Militia Service Worry Barometer “It’s up to all of us” 67 Interview with Karin Keller-Sutter “The willingness 2019 to work things out” 68 starting on page 55 Relationship with the EU It’s still complicated 70 26 “I feel like I am a small part of Africa” Roger Federer on his roots. 28 My legacy Five unusual heirlooms. 36 “… could happen to nearly anyone” All-too-common, but taboo: inheritance fraud. 38 Changing humanity forever Should we be allowed to manipulate DNA? Yes, says biologist Dieter Egli. 42 The hundred-year business plan Visiting the oldest sake brewery in the world. 28 Nishant Jhamb (32) and the motorcycle his father rode when 48 “The things that make life interesting” courting his mother. The UNESCO expert on pizza, beer and reggae. 54 Letters to the editor / Publishing information 72 The last page: Beni Bischof Photos: Iris Humm; Prarthna Singh; graphics: Offshore Studio Bulletin 4 / 2019 3 Who gets how much and why? Peter Breitschmid, professor of inheritance law, answers 25 questions on inheritance and human nature. Illustrations Till Lauer Inheritance 5 Why does inheritance 2 law in Continental How much money is Europe provide for a inherited each year? compulsory portion? The West is about to The inheritance law of be hit by an inheritance the City of Zurich from tidal wave as the gen- 1716 already included eration of financially 4 the concept of a last will 101 What was the longest successful baby boomers and testament but, even retires and approaches recorded inheritance then, people north of the end of their lives. dispute? the Alps were not com- It has been dubbed I remember the case of fortable with the free- the Greater Transfer, a couple in Zurich, who dom of testation allowed differentiating it from married in 1908. They under Roman law. The the Great Transfer that had no children. When Zurich law required that is currently under way the Swiss Civil Code a testator state his wishes (and quite substantial in entered into force in before the council and itself ). The consulting 1912, the husband opted obtain council approval firm Accenture predicts to have the earlier pro- to ensure that family that 10 percent of total perty regime of the members were not disin- 1 wealth in the United Canton of Zurich apply herited unfairly. From Why do we pass States will change hands to their estate. When today’s perspective, the our property every five years between husband and wife both compulsory portion on to our survivors? 2031 and 2045 – for a died in the early 1950s, for close relatives is a Inheritance comes up as total wealth transfer of their assets had to be pragmatic way to avoid far back as the Old USD 30 trillion. untangled in accordance conflict. Even if rela- Testament, and Russia with the 19th century tionships have soured reinstated inheritance law. Each of the more somewhat, close relatives rights for personal pro- 3 than one hundred family are ensured a share in perty only a few years And how much is in- members living around the inheritance – and after the October Revo- herited in Switzerland? the world – and their the testator’s estate is at lution. So, it seems that CHF 63 billion each lawyers – wanted their least partially protected the desire to hand our year according to a share. The Superior from the predatory property down when we study by the Büro Bass Court of the Canton of charms of legacy hunters. die is deeply engrained research institute. Zurich finally issued The model of compul- in human nature. In just under 20 years, its ruling in 1988, which sory inheritance is deeply the volume of wealth was then upheld by the embedded in Continen- transferred through Swiss Federal Supreme tal Europe, and it works. inheritance has dou- Court in 1992 – some The exact numbers are bled – primarily because four decades after the debatable, though. For assets have grown couple’s deaths. Because example, we can expect substantially in the same the unoccupied villa the ongoing re visions period. More than one in the posh Zürichberg to Swiss in heritance law in six Swiss citizens neighborhood had to reduce the compulsory (17 percent) passes on gained more in value portion for children more than CHF 1 million than the 40-year lawsuit from three-quarters of to their heirs, with the had cost, almost every- the statutory share to median wealth transfer one came away with one-half. being CHF 170,000. something. Bulletin 4 / 2019 5 6 What is the average age of heirs? A large majority of Swiss have their first child after age 30, and life expectancy for men and women is over 80 years.