Former Raiffeisen CEO Pierin Vincenz faces appeal trial in Zurich over millions in hidden profits

The charges at the centre of the case

Pierin Vincenz, 70, who led Raiffeisen Switzerland from 1999 to 2015 and helped build it into one of the country's largest banks, will stand trial again from Monday, 10 August 2026, before the Zurich Superior Court. The prosecution accuses him and former Aduno CEO Beat Stocker, 66, of secretly acquiring stakes in several financial-sector firms, including Commtrain, Genève Credit & Leasing, Eurokaution and Investnet, and then arranging for Raiffeisen and the credit-card company Aduno (now Viseca) to acquire those firms. The two defendants allegedly earned profits in the tens of millions of Swiss francs without disclosing their conflicts of interest. The prosecution also charges Vincenz with expense fraud, alleging he charged private luxury spending, including private jet travel, expensive dinners and visits to red-light establishments, to his corporate credit card, totalling several hundred thousand francs.

First-instance verdict and procedural path

In April 2022, the Zurich District Court convicted Vincenz of fraud, qualified disloyal management and passive bribery, sentencing him to 3 years and 9 months in prison. Stocker received 4 years. The court also ordered each to pay 1.3 million francs in damages and fined Vincenz an additional 300,000 francs for his expense excesses. The verdict ran to 1,200 pages. After the 2022 judgment, the Zurich Superior Court initially annulled it, finding the indictment too detailed. The Federal Court then overturned that decision and ordered the appeal trial to proceed. Vincenz was arrested in 2018 and spent 106 days in pre-trial detention; he has been at liberty since. The prosecution had demanded six years in the first trial.

Defence arguments and contested evidence

The defence argues that the acquired firms were strategically sound and commercially successful for Raiffeisen and Aduno, meaning the employers suffered no financial harm. Law professor Peter V. Kunz, of the University of Bern, expects a significant reduction in the sentence, possibly to a suspended term, because the core legal problem for both fraud and disloyal management is proving concrete damage. Kunz notes that while Vincenz profited from the transactions, the purchase prices were apparently market-conform, and Raiffeisen would not have paid less had Vincenz not been involved.

I am not saying that Vincenz behaved correctly in a legal or moral sense. From a corporate-governance perspective, some things were scandalous and unlawful. But that is not enough for a criminal conviction: criminal law, civil law and ethics are different matters.

Newly surfaced WhatsApp messages could support Vincenz's account of the Investnet transaction, potentially reframing a payment previously interpreted as a hidden profit share as a loan, as reported by the NZZ am Sonntag.

Financial penalties and personal circumstances

If a final conviction comes, Vincenz and Stocker face millions in payments. Their assets have been frozen since the criminal proceedings opened in 2018, and Vincenz's villas in Teufen AR and Morcote TI have been sold to satisfy creditors. Vincenz has withdrawn from public life since the first verdict. Separately, the Federal Court has definitively confirmed a fine of nearly 1 million francs against Vincenz for tax evasion concerning 3.4 million francs in undeclared income. The appeal trial is scheduled for 10 working days, with the defence demanding acquittal and the prosecution seeking six years.

Broader implications for Swiss corporate governance

The case raises central questions about how far top managers may go in using insider knowledge and whether they may act against the interests of their own employers. The 2022 verdict was notably harsher than many observers expected, with experienced criminal lawyers not anticipating prison sentences. The case marks a success for the Zurich prosecutor's office, which, unlike the failed Swissair prosecution over 25 years ago, was able to bring more concrete criminal charges, including personal enrichment. Of the original seven defendants, one was acquitted, three were convicted as accomplices, one was deemed unfit for trial and later died, and Vincenz and Stocker remain the principal defendants.