Parliament to finalise new dormant account legislation

The Swiss parliament is facing the task of finalising new legislation that once and for all will make clear how dormant accounts are to be handled. The urgency of the matter has been underlined by the newly-published Volcker report.

The Swiss parliament is facing the task of finalising new legislation that once and for all will make clear how dormant accounts are to be handled. The urgency of the matter has been underlined by the newly-published Volcker report.

The report by the Independent Committee of Eminent Persons – a panel chaired by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul A. Volcker – tried to establish the number of Swiss bank accounts that may be linked to Holocaust victims or their survivors.

The report, which was published on Monday, says the banks did not systematically destroy dormant account information. But it adds that the banks’ business behaviour was “too often grossly insensitive to the special conditions of the Holocaust.”

Even before the Volcker committee went to work three years ago, the Swiss parliament had begun preparing new legislation to define what to do with dormant accounts.

Since the 1950s, there have been repeated parliamentary moves to table legislation that would regulate how long banks have to keep records, and how long accounts have to stay open .

The Volcker report has shown that many Swiss banks have seamless records dating back 60 years longer than demanded by banking laws anywhere in the world.

The legal grey area of just how long banks have to keep their account data on file is going to be tackled by a draft law worked out by the Swiss Justice and Police Ministry over the past three years.

It can be submitted for consultation – involving all major industries and cantonal authorities — at the pull of a filing-cabinet.

The Swiss government says this procedure will probably start in the first half of next year. That means in about two years’ time, Switzerland could have legislation pre-empting any future problems with dormant accounts.

From staff member Peter Haller.