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[24 Heures, Switzerland]

 

 

Le Temps, Switzerland

Wake Up. Swiss Bank Secrecy is Under Threat!

 

"A frontal attack carried out against the heart of Switzerland's Financial Center, which in certain circles had been suggested for years - has become a political reality."

 

By Pierre Veya

                          

 

Translated By L. McKenzie Zeiss

 

February 25, 2009

 

Switzerland - Le Temps - Original Article (French)

Swiss Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz is feeling the heat from nations around the world which believe Swiss bank secrecy aids wrongdoing.

 

BBC NEWS VIDEO: European leaders agree to back an international watchdog to regulate global financial markets, Feb. 22, 00:02:08RealVideo

After legitimate anger against the methods used by the American justice system to shatter bank secrecy and circumvent the agreement between U.S. tax authorities and UBS, Switzerland must revive its spirits. [UBS, Switzerland's largest bank, paid $780 million in fines and agreed to hand over to the IRS client data on 250-300 customers to avert criminal proceedings relating to a tax evasion investigation. But now the U.S. is pushing to look into UBS' records at its other 52,000 American clients ]. A frontal attack carried out against the heart of Switzerland's Financial Center, which in certain circles had been suggested for years - has become a political reality.

 

[Editor's Note: According to Bloomberg News today, UBS bankers came to the U.S. by the dozens to pitch the Zurich-based bank as a haven from taxation, a former banker has admitted. Carrying encrypted laptops, they helped customers create sham structures, advised them on avoiding U.S. reporting requirements or referred them to people who would. The feds figure almost $18 billion was hidden in offshore UBS accounts in recent years .]

 

Let us not feign the surprise of the good student. Several analysts have proposed the opening of a discussion on "bank secrecy" - not to abandon it, but to include it in a vision that reconciles our interests with those of nations that grant tax authorities the right to look directly at the property and wealth of their citizens. For a long time - too long - the [Swiss] Finance Ministry, banking associations and a broad cross-section of the political class thought that we might find a way to parry the attacks. Clearly [it was thought], there was no need to open Pandora's Box.

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

 

Undoubtedly, the temporary agreement (this is often forgotten) negotiated with Europe on the taxation of savings has comforted us with the idea that we could escape an ultimatum as dangerous and brutal as the one just issued by the United States against our legal system. We had even proclaimed to the world: "Swiss bank secrecy is not negotiable." And yet, here we are constrained to imagine how to negotiate its future.

 

CLICK HERE FOR FRENCH VERSION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US February 26, 1:15pm]