Money matters: Photographer Mark Henley snaps the secretive world of Swiss banking

Money matters: Photographer Mark Henley snaps the secretive world of Swiss banking

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  Trams on Paradeplatz, with the HQs of Switzerland's two largest banks, UBS (centre behind) and Credit Suisse (right). 'This single square is to Switzerland what the whole of 'The City' signifies in Britain,' says Henley. Bank vaults and their secrets are reputed to lie beneath the square. The late British politician Harold Wilson once referred to Swiss bankers as the 'gnomes of Zurich'

  Mark Henley

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  The headquarters of Credit Suisse on Paradeplatz, the symbolic centre of the Swiss banking industry in central Zurich. The Swiss banking industry holds an estimated 6,352 billion Swiss Francs ($7,000 billion) in assets, more than half of it foreign, benefiting from the country's famous banking secrecy laws. Says photographer Mark Henley: 'There was this winter light, and the men appeared as if they'd just walked off Orson Welles's film set...'

  Mark Henley

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  Shareholders eat and drink while attending the annual general meeting of UBS in a concert hall in Basel. 'Business is done, and every one gets wined and dined courtesy of the bank,' says Henley. 'It's part of Swiss folklore – the idea of the pensioners with a single share who go for the day out and a feast. It's a moment when you feel that the banks really are a part of the social fabric of Swiss society. Sausages, cheese, wine, and once it gets going, a lot of fun'

  Mark Henley

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  A man with a pair of metal suitcases on Paradeplatz

  Mark Henley

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  A shareholder at the Credit Suisse AGM walks up a flight of stairs holding a glass of wine. The shareholders had revolted over the conduct of the bank's previous administration, which attendees regarded as responsible for record losses for a Swiss company

  Mark Henley

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  Cigars and coffee at Café Leo. Owned by a banker's wife, it's situated within the building of a private bank and is a favoured stop for bankers

  Mark Henley

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  Employees in the Credit Suisse cafeteria building, with trees reflected in the windows

  Mark Henley

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  This was taken during a press conference for Credit Suisse to announce their annual results. It shows a senior member of the bank, during a question and answers session with journalists. It had just been announced in the US that several Credit Suisse bankers had been arrested. 'There was a sombre atmosphere in the press conference,' says Henley

  Mark Henley