“Typisch Deutsch“, groans Peter Opitz, a Frankfurt-based partner at international law firm Freshfields. He sighs resignedly at Germans’ tendency to do themselves down: offered the choice, German business people will trust foreign experts rather than those born, educated and trained in Germany.
Frankfurt may have matured as a financial marketplace, but local bankers have not shaken off their inferiority complex. “What was once an ugly duckling has grown up into a handsome swan, though not necessarily a proud swan,” says Johann-Wilhelm Gaddum, vice-president of the Bundesbank.
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