For over 73 years, the Institut International d’Etudes Bancaires (IIEB) has remained the most secretive organization in European finance, according to the Financial Times.

“This is not like Davos, where anyone can buy their way in. This really is exclusive,” an unnamed IIEB member told the FT, referring to the World Economic Forum’s annual meetings in the Swiss town.

• Twice a year, the IIEB brings together the heads of Europe’s biggest banks to discuss a range of issues related to global policymaking, holding meetings in posh hotels and royal palaces across the continent.

• Notably, the organization has no website, and its membership, agendas, and minutes are not made public. In addition, members are reportedly discouraged from sharing details of discussions.

• In addition to being an influential financial forum, the IIEB reportedly remains an elite social club where bankers and their partners enjoy “gala dinners, private tours of historic landmarks and high-end shopping trips.”

• The IIEB was founded in Paris in 1950 by the heads of four European lenders, including France’s Credit Industriel et Commercial, Union Bank of Switzerland, Societe Generale de Belgique and Amsterdamsche Bank.

• The stated goal was to “bolster international capital movements and tackle currency controls in the face of increasing government interference.” In the late 1990s, however, IIEB discussions focused on the impact of the euro, the growing derivatives market, and mergers and acquisitions between major banks.

• There has been almost no press coverage of the IIEB’s activities in its more than seven-decade history, except for a few meetings, including the most recent in October 2023, when over 40 of Europe’s most powerful bankers gathered at the Dolder Grand Hotel in Zurich to discuss the collapse of lender Credit Suisse.