The government of Baselland has formally rejected a ballot initiative that would require the Basellandschaftliche Kantonalbank (BLKB) to allocate one-third of its annual net profit to municipalities in the canton. In a bulletin published Wednesday, the executive council argued that the canton bears all financial risks, regulatory costs and oversight burdens as sole owner of the state-guaranteed bank, and therefore should retain all earnings.
The initiative, backed by eleven municipalities including Liestal, proposes amending the cantonal bank law to redirect part of BLKB’s profit distribution to local governments based on population. Under the current system, the canton receives 100% of the bank’s net income after reserves, while municipalities receive no direct payments. The government contended that financial transfers between canton and municipalities have historically been tied to changes in assigned responsibilities, and warned that a simple profit redistribution without task realignment would disrupt the existing fiscal framework.
In addition to systemic concerns, the executive council estimated that implementing the initiative would impose annual administrative costs of approximately 22.8 million Swiss francs on the canton. It also argued that the proposal would not effectively ease the financial burden on the most indebted municipalities, recommending instead the use of targeted equalization payments as a more appropriate solution.
A separate initiative led by the Basel-Landschaft branch of the Swiss People’s Party (SVP) is currently collecting signatures for a similar measure that would mandate a 50-50 split of BLKB profits between the canton and municipalities. The canton’s rejection of the municipal-led proposal leaves both initiatives to proceed toward potential votes, with the SVP-backed version still in the signature-gathering phase.
