Obituary: Eurobond King Hans-Joerg Rudloff Has Passed Away

One of the last great doyens of Swiss banking with international influence has died on Monday at the age of 85. Hans-Joerg Rudloff is regarded as «Mr Eurobond» and played a pivotal role in the rise and expansion of Credit Suisse First Boston.

His passing on December 1, 2025 has been confirmed by two friends as well as in a letter from his personal assistant. The «International Financing Review» was the first media to report on it.

«It is with the heaviest of hearts that I inform you of the sad passing of Hans-Joerg yesterday. He was one of life’s great men and will be incredibly missed,» the email said in essence.

Architect of the European Capital Markets

The Swiss-German dual citizen is considered one of the main architects of the European capital markets. The son of a Bernese mother and a German father spent his first seven years in Bern before the family moved to Germany. Hans-Joerg Rudloff later returned to Switzerland to study.

His career began in 1965, when he joined Credit Suisse (CS) in Geneva after completing his studies. Three years later he moved to New York and joined Kidder Peabody, where he remained for a total of eleven years.

Return to Credit Suisse

In London, he also met his mentor at that time, another major veteran of the financial industry: Albert Gordon. Gordon had steered Kidder Peabody through the Great Depression of 1929. Until his death at the age of 107 in May 2009, Gordon was the last veteran at the helm of a Wall Street firm who had personally witnessed the 1929 market crash.

In 1980, Rudloff returned to CS. During this second period at the Swiss banking giant, the Eurobond market truly took off, increasing tenfold by 1990 from 18.5 billion dollars in 1980.

Eurobonds (also EU bonds) are, simply put, government bonds – mainly in the eurozone – through which EU countries jointly raise medium- and long-term capital on the market. The advantage of these vehicles is that the distribution of risk across several countries results in lower overall interest costs than if a single country took out the loan alone.

Great Companions

At the center of this groundbreaking development were initially Siegmund Warburg and Evan Galbraith, and soon also several prominent Swiss figures at Credit Suisse.

These included Robert L. Genillard, Rainer E. Gut and Oswald J. Grübel – and Rudloff, who made a name for himself in this environment as one of the most prominent and influential Swiss bankers abroad. Together with his peers, he played a major role in the growth of Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB).

Vice-Chairman at Novartis

In 1998 he moved to the British financial group Barclays, as then-CEO Bob Diamond was building Barclays Capital. He also sat for a time as vice-chairman on the board of directors of Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis and on other supervisory bodies.

In 2003, he was among the co-founders of the independent wealth management group Marcuard Heritage in Zurich, where he also served for a time as chairman.

Rudloff announced his withdrawal from investment banking in 2014 after almost 50 years in the markets and stepped down as chairman of Barclays’ investment banking business. But he remained active in the «business» for much longer.

Last Party

Throughout his life, he remained grounded, approachable, and humorous, and he embodied the values and virtues of Swiss banking: reliability, discretion, nobility, and excellence.

He would like one last ‘party’ where we can all remember him and pay our respects to his legacy and recall the good times,» the email from his assistant concluded.