Basel Pharma Converges With Art as City Sings Bank Blues

As attacks on account secrecy and the fall from grace of Switzerland’s biggest banks leave Zurich mired in crisis management, another city an hour away is quietly moving ahead.

Basel, headquarters of Europe’s two biggest drugmakers, Novartis AG and Roche Holding AG, has seen economic growth double the national average in the past two decades, according to Mayor Guy Morin. The city alone accounts for half of Swiss international trade.