© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: An image of the Credit Suisse logo in front of the Swiss Parliament building in Bern, Switzerland, on March 19, 2023. REUTERS/Dennis Balibus/File Photo
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Written by John Revell
ZURICH (Reuters) – A parliamentary inquiry into the collapse of Credit Suisse will keep its files closed for 50 years, according to a parliamentary committee document, a level of secrecy that has Swiss historians concerned.
The document means that the commission of inquiry will hand over its files to the Swiss Federal Archives after a gap longer than the usual 30 years to ensure high levels of confidentiality are applied to the investigation, which has generated significant public interest.
The investigation will focus on the activities of the Swiss government, financial regulator and central bank in the run-up to the emergency takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS in March.
The investigation is only the fifth of its kind in the country’s recent history, and the panel of lawmakers it is conducting has sweeping powers to subpoena the Cabinet, Ministry of Finance and other government bodies in Switzerland.
“After completion of the investigation, the files will be turned over to the Federal Archives and will be subject to an extended protection period of up to 50 years,” the commission said in a strategy paper outlining its communication policy.
The Swiss parliament declined to comment on Saturday after the 50-year sentence was first reported by the Aargauer Zeitung newspaper.
Concerns about the length of the time were raised by the Swiss Society of History, with its president Sascha Zala writing to committee chair Isabelle Chassot, a lawmaker from the Swiss Senate.
“If researchers want to conduct a scientific investigation of the 2023 banking crisis, access to the CS files would be invaluable,” Zala wrote, according to the paper.
He added, “Ideally, it should be possible to secure the archive and make it available after the appropriate period of protection has expired and, if necessary, subject to historical research conditions.”
The committee held its first regular meeting in Berne on Thursday, stressing the confidentiality of its procedures, which may include interviews with bankers.
She added that “all persons involved in the meetings and interrogations are subject to a duty of confidentiality, not only the members of the committee but also the interviewees.”
The committee added that “reckless actions complicate the work or damage the committee’s credibility and could have negative consequences for the Swiss financial position.”