Due to misunderstanding, to envy, one could never be too careful, however. Even vis-à-vis one’s own employees; pathetic but true in these days of long-haired clerks and gum-chewing secretaries. Even the young officers of the bank could no longer be trusted. They were all too often the products of chaotic universities, of confused professors who did not realize that making money with money represents the very heart of the system which has finally given dignity to a good part of mankind. The numbered account system, which in Hofer’s mind represented capitalistic perfection, the ultimate response to challenge in the area of finance, was only as good as its guardians. In this regard, Kellermann was perfect. Well, almost perfect. His devotion to the Roman Catholic Church was often disturbing. He did not have to advertise it as he did. After all, the General Bank of Switzerland was a Protestant bank, like almost all of its sister institutions in Switzerland, or for that matter, also in the United States. This was so for good reasons. It was upon the Protestant ethic that all this was built. There were standards to be maintained, confidence to be preserved. To be sure, there was much to be said for ecumenical progress. As long as it did not go too far. Hofer had been one of the first financial leaders of his country to embrace the movement. But he saw himself as a pillar of moderation. More than once he had had to raise his voice in restraint to point out that the moral strength of Zurich stemmed from Zwingli, from Calvin, whose teachings were hardly compatible with the machinations of a Leo or a Gregory, not to speak of the hypocrisy of a Pius. To be sure, they were part of the past, but the Jesuits were obviously very much part of the present. The Swiss Constitution still banned them from the country. Correctly so. It may well be that their tactics had changed, but had their basic philosophy? The confusion of ends and means. This was not the Swiss way of approaching things, and every enlightened Catholic must also realize this. Or be convinced. One stood up for what one knew was right and, if necessary, died on the battlefield like Zwingli for one’s faith and country.
The buzzer startled Hofer. He seldom got caught day-dreaming in this manner.
Kellermann entered the room and approached Hofer’s desk.
“Glad to see you back, Dr. Hofer,” he said. “I hope your trip to Johannesburg was satisfactory.”
“It was. Please be seated. I’ve just had a brief talk with Zimmerer of the foreign exchange department. He tells me that you gave him a very large open order to buy gold bullion and sell the dollar short. For a numbered account. What’s the story on that?”
“The client is an American. A certain Mr. Stanley Rosen from New York. We know him well. That is, our branch in Basel knows him. He’s been a major depositor there and has done a lot of securities business with them over the years. In fact, he’s high volume all around. Rosen was one of our first overseas clients to make major Eurocurrency placements. Our Basel people tell me that they have had as much as $200 million outstanding for his accounts at one time—all on the usual trust basis.”
“It is hardly his money.”
“No, sir. Our people in New York have provided us with some background information on the man. It would seem that he has rather irregular types of people for whom he manages money, if you know what I mean. But this is no concern of ours. To date he has been absolutely correct in all of his dealings with us. Very exact, but very correct. Of course he receives no correspondence from the bank. He comes over and goes through the dossiers on his accounts with Widmer over in Basel about every other month.”
“If he has always worked with the Basel branch, why are you all of a sudden handling his business?”
“Yesterday he came up with this very large operation. It’s too big for any of our branches, including Basel. So Widmer sent him directly to me. He, of course, operates exclusively with numbered accounts. His instructions are quite simple. He wants to buy gold bullion at the market for just a shade under $200 million. He put up $100 million in cash. Then he wants to use the gold as collateral for a very substantial short sale of U.S. dollars against the Swiss franc. From our standpoint it makes good sense. We will make at least $1 million in commissions on what is essentially a very simple operation. Our exposure is nil. Of course, there is risk from his standpoint.”
“He realizes this?”
“No doubt. He has one of the fastest minds I’ve ever seen among our private clients. Obviously a very professional money manager. I feel that I can completely assure you, Dr. Hofer, that he will not turn into a crybaby and pester us to death if the operation goes wrong. He’s not a troublemaker. So also from that standpoint, our exposure is essentially nil.”
“I still don’t like it,” stated Hofer. “At all. Has he come with good funds?”
“Yes, sir. He had the entire $100 million delivered in T-bills a few days ago in New York. The people at our branch there checked out their validity. No problem. They are authentic, not stolen. In fact, they were sold yesterday, and the proceeds have already arrived here. So he’s working from cash.”
“No idea where the Treasury bills originated?”
“No, sir. They’re bearer instruments, you know. No way of really checking back. But still, there is something. He opened up an entirely new numbered account for these transactions. He maintains about twenty accounts in all with us—in Basel, except for this one. There is a co-signature on all the new account papers. A certain Ali ben Fezali of Beirut.”
“The same one we work with in the currency business?”
“Right. We get shipments of assorted bank notes, and I do mean assorted, about every other week. We buy them from him at rather special rates, and then clear the notes, or most of them, back to the country of origin. He usually employs the proceeds for the purchase of gold and silver coinage. I would guess that we make large return shipments to him at least once a month. He maintains excellent sight balances with us, and has for many years. All in all, he’s one of our better clients in Lebanon.”