Merz pledges to defend bank secrecy
President Hans-Rudolf Merz says Swiss banking secrecy laws remain intact despite a deal which allows the UBS bank to hand over customer details to the United States.
Merz said the leading Swiss bank had no choice but to settle the case to avoid criminal charges that could have threatened its existence and undermined the country's economy.
He added the bank admitted to fraud under both Swiss and American law and transferred the names of up to 300 clients to the US justice authorities.
Swiss law prohibits the disclosure of client data unless the authorities find customers committed a serious crime, including tax fraud or money laundering. However, tax evasion is only an administrative offence.
Extending the scope of an accord with the European Union on the taxation of savings income could be a way of preventing the end of banking secrecy, Merz told a news conference on Thursday.
Merz, who is also finance minister, criticised the US for setting a deadline of February 18 for the bank to hand over information, but he denied that the case would sour bilateral relations between Washington and Bern.
Legal proceedings are still underway in Switzerland as part of a bilateral accord between the two countries over cases of suspected tax fraud.
The $780 million (SFr916 million) deal between UBS and the US authorities - approved by the Swiss banking regulator - has come in for strong criticism by political parties and experts in Switzerland.
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There are a number of reasons to use banking privacy:
To hide it from friends, spouse or other family members.
To hide it from the employer. (Many employers restrict the ability of their staff to trade shares to prevent conflicts of interest).
To store embezzled money.
To launder money.
To prevent confiscation of money, e.g. in the case of potential bankruptcy.
Tax evasion (banking secrecy extends to tax agencies being refused permission to examine accounts).
Tax resistance (by libertarians, or others, who oppose the institution collecting the tax).
Protection from over-bearing or corrupt local government agencies.
Protection from litigation.
Privacy from press or publicity. Many newspapers annually publish "rich lists", which are lists of the richest people in a country or an area. Many factors including the size of an individual's bank balance can be taken into account in drawing conclusions as to the size of his wealth.
In a free and open society (open being the optimum word) why again do people need to hide their assets? I feel USB should take 10% of the money of the US investors write out a check for the rest (if they have it) and let the US deal with its own citizens. Stop taking US funds.
Switzerland should not surrender to arm twisting by the USA. Why do not they first investigate their own politicians? Tax payers money is being thrown around by corrupt politicians in unnecessary wars. America should look to first cleaning up it's own house. UBS has shown honesty by paying fines and agreeing to co-operate. I am sure UBS will make sure these incidents do not happen again.
This is another evidence that the USA are the major threat for freedom and privacy in today's world. All this under the cover of war against terrorism, money laundering, tax fraud. We can only hope that Switzerland won't completely surrender...