BIS in Basel

I am interested in reading the novel “ The Rising Sun” written by John Toland. It's a long story so takes time. I was surprised in 2 Japanese banker in Basel who tried peace talks with Allied force in 1945. They were the staffs of BIS (Bank for International Settlements) as Switzerland was neutral country.

Basel located in the center of crossing national border of Switzerland, France and Germany and belonged to Switzerland. I have used to visit BIS on business. BIS was notorious organization for 8% capital ratio. A lot of Japanese banks were obliged to be merged and disappeared with this regulation. But I had a good impression as my counterpart took me a good restaurant. It was a chateau restaurant named Schloss Bottmingen near the city.

The Basel airport has two exits that one is for Switzerland and another is for France as of today. I wonder how 2 Japanese banker survived in such a difficult war period. This city is now famous for the birthplace of tennis player Roger Federer.