Spotlight

From Drum King to Bank CEO

Samuel Meyer, CEO of Bank Cler, explains the importance of passion, courage, and respect for a good corporate culture.

At the age of seven, Samuel Meyer received his first drum; fifteen years later, he performed as a member of the Top Secret Drum Corps at the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo; and at 26, the current CEO of Bank Cler was crowned Basel’s Drum King. The 44-year-old still indulges in his great hobby during Carnival, an event he hasn’t missed a single time since childhood. Meyer connects the Basel cultural event with values that are also important to him as a boss: “For me, Carnival stands for passion, tradition, creativity – and above all for community and togetherness.”

What can be transferred from his passion as a Carnival enthusiast to everyday professional life? “A lot,” Meyer is convinced. “For me, it’s primarily the passion for drumming: I want to be a role model for younger people, inspire them, and share my fascination for drumming with them.” That’s why the top manager used to be involved in youth development and gave drumming lessons. “It’s the same in my profession: I’m passionately a banker and want to accompany our customers with exactly this passion on their way to their goals, together with my colleagues.” Another important topic that can be applied to everyday professional life for Meyer is diversity: “At Carnival, it doesn’t matter who you are or what you have – whether man or woman, old or young, rich or poor. The shared passion connects, and you live and develop it together.”

Showing Your True Colors

Topics such as equality, diversity, and inclusion have been strategically anchored at Bank Cler for 25 years and, according to Meyer, are part of its DNA. Since then, the company has implemented numerous measures. For many of these, Bank Cler has received awards – often as the first financial institution in Switzerland. For example, Bank Cler explicitly commits to “equal pay for work of equal value” and has this independently audited and certified. In addition, it has signed the seven UN “Women’s Empowerment Principles” and is a partner of EqualVoice United.

The proportion of women on the Board of Directors is 57 percent. Specifically, this means that four out of seven board members are female – a top figure for a Swiss bank. There is one woman on the three-person executive board; across the entire management team, the proportion of women is about 30 percent. According to Meyer, this is to be further expanded. “With our almost balanced ratio of 45 percent women to 55 percent men across the entire company, we have very good conditions for this.”

According to its CEO, Bank Cler supports part-time work and home office for women and men at all levels. Women receive additional advice and support in career planning, especially before and after maternity leave. Job sharing, unpaid leave, and family-friendly working hours are also part of the corporate culture.

Samuel Meyer, who strongly advocates for the advancement of women, followed the games of this year’s Women’s Euro, whose final took place in Basel, like many people in Switzerland. “The radiance of this event impressed me – this enthusiasm, the positive emotions, and the broad support.” Integrity, team spirit, and respect are also important to him as CEO of Bank Cler: He describes his leadership style as cooperative and collaborative: “I give trust – and in return, I expect my colleagues to work independently. I am demanding, consistent, focused, and strongly value-oriented. For me, it applies: I say what I do, and I do what I say,” Meyer states.

Passion, courage, integrity, and respect have also been defined as core values within the company – values he shares 100 percent. “It is crucial for me that these principles are not just named, but also lived. It is important to me to be a role model and to implement these principles every day in my work and with my leadership style,” says Meyer.

Strengthening Strengths

In dealing with employees, he focuses on people and abilities, not on characteristics such as gender, origin, or age. He places a strong emphasis on further development: “At our bank, there is a development dialogue that regularly takes place between employees and managers.” The main goal is to strengthen strengths. Because everyone has different potential, specialist careers are promoted just as much as management careers. However, successful employee development also requires the right managers who can effectively shape this dialogue and actively accompany the development of their employees. Therefore, Bank Cler places great importance on empowering its managers – for example, with a special coaching training that was implemented for everyone this year.

Samuel Meyer’s fundamental attitude as a leader and a person becomes clear when asked about his future wishes: “Generally, I wish for more peace, respect, humility, modesty, and gratitude. In Switzerland, we sometimes forget what a privilege it is to live in a country with such a high quality of life. In doing so, we easily lose sight of what truly matters in life,” is the answer from Bank Cler’s pacesetter.

September, 2025

Source: Translation of an article first published in HANDELSZEITUNG, EqualVoice United Special, on September 04, 2025.