2
Swiss bank secrecy may be damaged
The U.S. corporate headquarters of UBS in New York.
To view this content, Javascript must be enabled and Adobe Flash Player must be installed.
TEXT OF STORY
Bill Radke: Switzerland's biggest bank, UBS, will hand over the names of thousands of American clients to settle a tax evasion case -- that's the latest from Swiss press reports. Tax experts say the case has damaged one of Switzerland's most prized possessions -- bank secrecy. From London Stephen Beard has more.
Stephen Beard: The United States and UBS are expected to reveal the details of the settlement later this week. But two Swiss newspapers claim they have a pretty good idea about the deal. They say that UBS will hand over the names of up to 5,000 American account holders suspected of dodging taxes.
Switzerland is insisting that the deal does not require it to change its domestic law, so its bank secrecy remains intact. Stephen Platt, a London based lawyer, is skeptical about that claim.
Stephen PLATT: It's slightly disingenuous to say that banking secrecy remains intact at the same time that you're handing over the details of 5,000 account holders.
The U.S. had been seeking the names of 52,000 American account holders. It reportedly settled for less because it was worried about pushing UBS over the edge, and triggering another financial crisis.
In London this is Stephen Beard for Marketplace.
"The U.S. had been seeking the names of 52,000 American account holders. It reportedly settled for less because it was worried about pushing UBS over the edge, and triggering another financial crisis."
For now 5000 names could do, but going forward it is in the best interest of the world that these secrecy banking laws be completely removed. This would help minimizing corruption in several countries, prevent suppressing of comman men and women around the underdeveloped world.
So once we are in better shape after the financial crisis, Swiss and Govts around world must work together to get rid of these secret banking system. Its unfair, not-competetive..
What the rationale behind the secrecy anyway?
-Sakthi
Is it not clear that the "secret banks" of the world that hide money for wealthy clients are nothing more than facilitators for crimes large and small - not only tax evasion (USB), but also money laundering, terrorism, drugs and other major problems in the world? If we are ever going to solve any of these problems, then we must expose the secret world of banking that greases the wheels of crime. If these banks don't like it, then the governments of the world will have to forbid them from operating within their borders. D.Carr
