Schwab wants to choose WEF successor, says board co-chairs Fink & Hoffmann shouldn’t have conflicts of interests, is tightlipped on Borge-Epstein connection: Swiss media

World Economic Forum (WEF) founder Klaus Schwab tells Swiss media he’s exploring ways to choose his successor, that he won’t comment further on Borge Brende’s connections to Jeffrey Epstein, and that board members like interim co-chairs Larry Fink and Andre Hoffmann shouldn’t have conflicts of interests.

In the past year, the WEF has seen the exits of its founder and executive chair, Klaus Schwab, as well its president and CEO, Borge Brende.

On February 26, Brende officially resigned from his position as WEF president and CEO with no mention of his dinners or correspondences with Jeffrey Epstein in his public statement of resignation.

On March 14 Swiss publication NZZ published an interview with Schwab, in which he was asked about the situation with Brende.

NZZ: You strongly criticized the contacts between WEF president and CEO Borge Brende and Jeffrey Epstein. Are you relieved that he has now resigned?

Schwab: I prefer not to comment on this any further.

In February Bloomberg reported, “Brende has said that he informed Schwab about his interactions with Epstein before the release of messages by the DOJ, which Schwab has denied.”

With the exits of Schwab and Brende, the WEF leadership has been fragmented at the highest levels where only temporary positions have been put in place.

Longtime managing director Alois Zwinggi is now the interim president and CEO.

Larry Fink and Andre Hoffmann are the interim co-chairs of the board of trustees.

In the interview with NZZ, Schwab was asked about the role of WEF board members, and whether or not they should be representing the interests of their own organizations and the potential for conflicts of interests.

From his answer, it may be implied that Fink and Hoffmann have not been following the rules.

NZZ: You consider it important that the forum’s leadership is independent. However, the board of trustees includes several business leaders with commercial interests.

Schwab: I’ve been accused of having too large a board of trustees. But I wanted all stakeholders to be represented, including those from science and the arts, as well as important international organizations. A board member doesn’t represent their own organization but is accountable to the foundation. Not all members are required to be, nor can they be, independent. But I believe the key officers – the chair and the president or CEO – should meet the criteria I mentioned.

The WEF leadership page clearly states, “In their work on the Board, members do not represent any personal or professional interests.”

However, when it comes to Hoffmann and Fink, that may not be the case.

For example, under their leadership, the WEF published a blueprint for monetizing, financializing, and tokenizing everything in nature.

For that insight report, entitled “Finance Solutions for Nature: Pathways to Returns and Outcomes,” the targeted audiences were “institutional investors, banks, asset managers, and development actors” — the very business interests that Fink and Hoffmann represent.

NZZ: So in your view, the current co-chairmen, Blackrock founder and CEO Larry Fink and Roche Vice Chairman Andre Hoffmann, are not independent.

Schwab: One factor is the institutional framework, the other is personality. I have great respect for Larry Fink and also for Andre Hoffmann, and I am pleased that they are active on the foundation’s board. Ultimately, the interests of the forum should be decisive.

“Even as I approached my 65th birthday, I was constantly asked: Who will be your successor? I would have liked to have settled my succession seven or eight years ago. I searched, and there were suitable candidates who would have met the criteria. But something always came up”

Klaus Schwab, “I hope that my wish will still
come true”: NZZ Interview, March 2026

With Fink and Hoffmann currently serving as interim co-chairs, Schwab told NZZ that he would’ve preferred to choose his own successor, but he kept putting it off before he resigned following an investigation into his own conduct at the WEF.

The investigation, which was never made public, cleared him of any wrongdoing.

Now, Schwab is exploring how he still might be able to appoint a successor, stemming from his rights and position as the WEF founder.

NZZ: The WEF statutes state that as the founder, you would have the right to appoint a successor. How do you interpret this clause, and do you intend to exercise this right?

Schwab: It is important to me that the forum and the foundation I established remain committed to their purpose and to Switzerland. I have requested a statement from the Swiss foundation supervisory authority to clarify how this can be achieved.

NZZ: What does that mean exactly? Have you submitted an application, have you made any demands?

Schwab: I don’t want a legal dispute. I simply want to know what rights the founder or their representative still have. Once that’s clarified, I’ll consider how I should exercise them.

As far as potential successors go, internet rumors abound with speculation that Bill Gates or Tony Blair could fill that role.

But for Schwab, he would want to choose the next WEF chair, and that person would be someone who is smart and trustworthy, and “who is independent, has no conflicts of interest, and brings experience from both the public and private sectors.”

NZZ: You are describing the profile of ECB [European Central Bank] president Christine Lagarde.

Schwab: I don’t want to mention any names.

Lagarde? Trustworthy? To whom?

In 2016 Lagarde was convicted for her role in a massive government payout, which could’ve landed her a year in jail, yet she never served a single day.

Instead, after being found guilty on charges of “negligence by a person in position of public authority” related to her role as France’s minister of finance in 2008, she dramatically failed upwards.

Lagarde was the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 2011 – 2019, and then she was almost immediately appointed president of the European Central Bank in 2019, where she still is today — lobbying for the digital euro — a digital ID-backed Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) for the entire European Union.

Her term at the ECB is set to expire in October 2027.

Will Schwab consider Lagarde as a potential successor?

Time will tell.

For now, Schwab considers the role of the WEF not to be just a “think tank” but also a “Do-tank” for public-private partnerships.

When NZZ asked if the WEF could be a “kind of better UN” Schwab responded in a way that alluded to Brende’s emails with Epstein.

NZZ: A kind of better UN?

Schwab: I don’t see Davos as a replacement for the UN and other international organizations. The World Economic Forum complements what these organizations do. We help them connect with society and the economy.

Now compare that with what Epstein told Brende in an email from September 17, 2018, and it looks as though Schwab is trying to distance himself as far away from Brende as possible.

“davos can really replace the UN. cyber, crypto, genetics… intl coordination. like my stint at the trilateral. issues now need to deal with the distributed trust. and internet fallout”

Jeffrey Epstein email to Borge Brende, September 2018

NZZ: Are you worried about your legacy?

Schwab: One must always worry. I worry about the future — and believe it or not, that keeps me young.

Since leaving the WEF, the architect of the great reset agenda launched the Schwab Academy to as a platform to accompany his new book series on what he calls the “Intelligent Age.”

The interview was first published in German on Swiss-based NZZ (Neue Zürcher Zeitung) on March 14 and put behind a paywall.

However, one of the authors, NZZ CEO Felix Graf, provided an automated English translation on LinkedIn, and the full text can be viewed here.

I’ve also uploaded the interview to archive.org here.

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Image Source: Screenshot of Klaus Schwab at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2022 via YouTube