Fritz Leutwiler
Fritz Leutwiler, a Swiss banker to the world, died on May 29th, aged 72
ONE morning in August 1982 Fritz Leutwiler had a telephone call from Paul Volcker, the head of America's Federal Reserve. Mexico was in deep trouble, reported Mr Volcker. Confidence had gone. Its foreign-exchange reserves had been drained by a flight of money out of the country, and it could not service its debts. Commercial banks in the United States and other countries which had lent heavily to Mexico were desperately worried. Some might go bust. The Fed was trying to put together an international package of credits for Mexico. Mr Leutwiler, the head of the Swiss National Bank, the country's central bank, was among those at the top of his list.
This article appeared in the Obituary section of the print edition under the headline “Fritz Leutwiler”
Obituary June 14th 1997
From the June 14th 1997 edition
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