Swiss bank chief in line for £600,000 payoff

Swiss National Bank chairman Philipp Hildebrand will receive a CHF900,000 (£615,000) payoff as he leaves the central bank following a scandal over his wife’s currency trades.

The ‘golden goodbye’, which is equivalent to a year’s salary, covers his six month notice period and compensates him for being contractually bound not to work in another bank until January 2013.

The news comes as doubts have emerged over how much Hildebrand knew about his wife’s affairs.

The chairman released details of exchanges between himself, his wife Kashya and Felix Scheuber, their adviser at Bank Sarasin.

According to the Telegraph, in a note dated 15 August, Scheuber described how Mr Hildebrand "would leave it up to his wife Kashya to decide" whether to buy dollars. Scheuber said he executed the trade later that day after meeting Kashya at her office.

In an email from Hildebrand to Scheuber the next day, copied to his wife and the SNB general counsel, he wrote: "We never discussed any dollar purchases yesterday. Given Kashya's email response and copy to me, I assume she gave you the order.

"In future, for compliance reasons, you are not authorised to execute any currency transactions unless the order comes from me or I confirm it." He added: "Kashya, sorry about that but currencies really are a special case here."

Scheuber replied: "Yes, Kashya yesterday gave me the verbal order, followed by the email later on. I also remember you saying in yesterday's conversation that if Kashya wants to increase the [dollar] exposure then it is fine with you."

Prior to his resignation earlier this week, the central bank chief had been under pressure after an anonymous whistleblower revealed that his wife, a former hedge fund trader, bought CHF400,000 worth of US dollars on 15 August last year.

The trade came just three weeks before the SNB announced it would defend a floor for the franc at CHF1.20 to the euro, a move which saw the franc's value drop sharply.

Safe haven flows meant the franc had been moving nearer parity with the euro last summer, to the detriment of the Swiss economy.

Kashya Hildebrand made a reported profit of CHF40,000 (£61,000) in buying what she called the "almost ridiculously cheap" dollars.

The central banker had been due to be grilled by Swiss MPs, and had previously said he had no intention of resigning as a result of the scandal.