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A Film Noir Photo Essay on the Secretive World of Swiss Banks

Fri, 02/03/2012 - 13:47 — Dave Culver
Section(s): 
Arts & Culture
Business

The Vaults is a finely crafted multimedia experience of Mark Heneley's photographs of the Swiss banking sector in Zurich. Anna Stevens of Panos Pictures taps film noir and James Bond movies for inspiration in her edit, which adds sound and text to create a story. Henley talks about the experience of shooting the series and why the mysterious industry begs investigation in an interview below.
Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg, Atlantic

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The Atlantic: What inspired you to photograph the Swiss banking sector? 



Mark Henley: Swiss banks are a pillar of Swiss society, but they are under pressure like never before. In the last few years there have been scandals, losses, bailouts, resignations, offices raided in several countries, bankers arrested in the US, as well as tighter regulation at home. On top of this, hallowed banking secrecy laws have been breeched, and with foreign governments increasing pressure to have access to assets hidden in Switzerland, the pressure is only increasing. When you consider the importance of the banks to the Swiss economy -- they are thought to hold as much as US$7,000 billion, with a third of all global offshore funds -- put together with a subject that is the stuff of global myths, in films and thrillers, and you have a subject that deserves closer attention -- and somewhat surprisingly there has been very little. I went to a UBS AGM out of sheer inquisitiveness, and was immediately caught.

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