Raiffeisen Switzerland is a cooperative of cooperatives the union of all independent Swiss Raiffeisen banks. It bears responsibility for the business policy and strategy within the Raiffeisen Group.The ideas of Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch and Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen, particularly those regarding the principle of self-help, met with great interest in Europe. They caught on in rural areas in particular. The first Raiffeisen bank in Switzerland was founded on the initiative of parish priest Johann Traber in 1899 in Bichelsee. In 1902, ten institutions founded the Swiss Raiffeisen union.