zurich

2 definitions • 4 examples

the powerful bankers (= people who own or control banks) from Switzerland who control a lot of money, much of it belonging to foreign governments:

He had, perhaps unfairly, blamed the gnomes of Zurich for the sterling crisis.

So do we have the gnomes of Zurich to thank for the low mortgage rates?

The gnomes of Zurich are famously discreet.

He had objected to the term "the gnomes of Zurich" on the grounds that it was an offensive stereotype.

a term first used by British Labour party ministers in the 1960s, when the pound was losing value, to refer to Swiss bankers and the power and influence with which they control foreign money