Gnomes of Zurich is a disparaging term for Swiss bankers. The term was coined by the British Labour Party politician Harold Wilson on November 12,1956 when he accused Swiss bankers of pushing the pound down on the foreign exchanges by speculation.

Wilson's speech ran as follows:

Traders and financiers all over the world had listened to the Chancellor. He had said that if he could not stop wage claims the country was facing disaster. Rightly or wrongly, these people believed the Chancellor. On September 5th, when the T.U.C. unanimously rejected wage restraint, it was the end of an era, and all the financiers, all the little gnomes in Zurich and other financial centres, had begun to make their dispensations in regard to sterling.

Swiss bankers are popularly associated with extremely secretive policies, while gnomes in fairy tales live underground, in secret, counting their riches.

Zurich is the commercial center of Switzerland.