Rise in executive suicide in Switzerland leads to business community introspection

The business community in Switzerland is smarting after a recent spate of suicides from within the financial spheres has led to an introspection of the stress levels induced by their companies.

Former chief executive of Zurich Insurance, Martin Senn, took his own life last week, less than three years after the same company's finance chief Pierre Wauthier also committed suicide.

Wauthier had referred to pressure from chairman Josef Ackermann in his suicide note, but a subsequent investigation cleared Ackermann of any wrongdoing.

Wauthier had referred to pressure from chairman Josef Ackermann in his suicide note

Little details have emerged of the events leading up to Senn shooting himself in a family home in the Alps, but friends have said that he appeared to be withdrawn in the days leading up to his death, according to the Business Insider.

Chief executive of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce, of which Senn had been president, Martin Naville, said the business circles in which they were in were shocked. "The only thing you can do is to be more attentive to signs," he said.

German-born head of Swisscom Carlos Schloter and Alex Widner, head of bank Julius Baer, are also example of Switzerland's executive suicide victims. Although the overall suicide rate is below the gobal average according to the World Health Organisation, the recent increase has set off alarm bells.

Naville said he had seen nothing in Swiss executive culture to explain the suicides. "Every case can be different," he said. "Human beings are so complicated."

Others disagree, however. Former UBS banker Susan Kish said that "if you fail, you are expected to excuse yourself from the conversation and drop any further ambitions. You're not expected to show your face again."

If you fail, you are expected to excuse yourself from the conversation and drop any further ambitions

The Zurich Group gained prominence in the 1990s with a series of acquisitions, but the 9/11 attacks in New York in 2001 hit the company hard amid heavy expenses.

In 2012 Ackermann, who previously occupied the CEO position at Deutsche Bank, was pushing the management of Zurich Insurance to abandon its conservative methods and take more risks on investments. He resigned shortly after Wauthier's death, with the suicide note suggesting that he had been greatly pressured by the chairman.

Corporate setbacks and various failures during the financial crisis, including the bankruptcy of Swissair, have stung the Swiss economy, and the once supremely confident financial state, has come back to earth with a bang.