How safe are Swiss banks

[italkcash]

So how safe are Swiss banks actually? The rumor and secrecy surrounding these banks for several years has gained a reputation of being perfectly safe for hiding money. This is also true to some extend!

Swiss banks has changed their approach toward business people lately. The terrorists attack on WTC changed everything in the world and rules are tight today. If someone comes from countries blacklisted by the UN obtaining a bank account in Switzerland is almost impossible.

Secondly if the transfers are from dubious countries and seems like they involve arms trade, drugs or money laundering the banks are better at closing the account today and freezing all assets.

Although Swiss banks did not gain their reputation for nothing. Today they still stand as the most safe haven in the world, providing asset protection to some of the richest families in the world and functions as wealth management and saving for many families through generations.

One thing is for sure, once you get in a Swiss bank and obtain an account, you are almost sure to keep it if your business does not involve doing illegal practices, and illegal does not mean tax evasion, that is still the holy grail and will be so for many many years.

[mandiees]

Pretty sure Swiss banks define the security processes used by other banks... They still seem to be the best bank to use, no matter which country you reside in.

[eyes4]

While safe, the privacy/anonymity feature is being eroded quickly.

Governments are cooperating with each other and pressure is being brought by "whistle blowers", government spies, and other industry insiders to open up the once very private banking system in Switzerland.

Of course, the system is being ruined for us all by people, States, and organizations who have attempted to skirt law. Calls for transparency follow. Unfortunately, true privacy is a waning luxury.

eyes4

[manojjonam10]

Swiss banks are always famous for protecting privacy and security of the clients as well as money. This indeed created a backlash when some unaccounted money were found to be invested in Swiss banks.

[Offshore]

July 18, 2008
UBS closes Swiss accounts of US clients
Tom Bawden in New York

UBS caved in to mounting pressure from the US Government yesterday and announced plans to close the Swiss bank accounts of all its American customers and prepared to lift the veil of secrecy that has protected its clients for centuries.

Mark Branson, the chief financial officer of UBS's global wealth-management unit, told a Senate hearing into tax evasion in Washington: “We have decided entirely to exit the business. UBS will no longer provide offshore banking or securities services to US residents through our bank branches.”

Mr Branson said: “While we are winding down this business there will be no new accounts opened and Swiss-based client advisers will not be permitted to travel to the United States for the purpose of meeting with US clients.”

Closing Swiss accounts to US clients does not affect UBS's general wealth-management business in America, Mr Branson said. UBS, the world's largest wealth-management group, will still offer US-based services through three subsidiaries.
Related Links

* Americans seek names of 20,000 UBS clients

* Ex-UBS banker charged with US tax fraud

* More pressure on UBS as America holds banker

The US Government and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have been turning the screw on banks suspected of helping clients to evade tax through undeclared offshore accounts.

They have been pressing UBS to give details of 19,000 US clients with $17.9 billion (£8.9 billion) in undeclared Swiss bank accounts.

An investigation, whose report was issued yesterday, found that only 1,000 of UBS's 20,000 American clients with Swiss bank accounts had declared their accounts to the IRS.

UBS will not hand over identities of all 19,000 of these customers because, sources say, it does not follow that every undeclared account has broken US tax law. Instead it will identify only those it believes may have engaged in tax fraud, although that number is expected to run into thousands.

Yesterday's developments amount to a double whammy of bad news for UBS. Although UBS offered to relocate its offshore banking customers to subsidiary UBS entities, registered by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, ****ysts did not expect many clients to switch, cutting off significant income.

Furthermore, the guarantee of anonymity was a big draw for many rich UBS clients and its loss will dent confidence in the bank.

Two weeks ago a US court authorised the IRS to demand names of US accountholders from UBS as part of an attack on tax evasion, estimated to cost America $100 billion a year in unpaid tax. UBS, in response, hinted that releasing names could break Swiss law requiring bank confidentiality.

However, Mr Branson indicated yesterday that Swiss law would not be relevant to many of its US offshore clients and that UBS would hand over an undisclosed number of their names.

He said: “We are working with the US Government to identify the names of US clients who may have engaged in tax fraud. Client identity is generally protected from disclosure under Swiss law. But such privacy protections do not apply when disclosure of client names is requested in connection with an investigation of tax fraud and where the requests are presented to the Swiss Government.”

[Offshore]

Originally Posted by manojjonam10

Swiss banks are always famous for protecting privacy and security of the clients as well as money. This indeed created a backlash when some unaccounted money were found to be invested in Swiss banks.

So much for that:

Fraud Case Breaches Venerable Swiss Secrecy
Posted Oct 1, 08 10:50 AM CDT in World, Crime & Courts, Business

(Newser) – Swiss authorities are cooperating with an American investigation into a tax fraud scandal, dealing a major blow to the nation's tradition of banking secrecy. Swiss bank UBS is alleged to have helped up to 20,000 American clients evade taxes by stashing their fortunes—collectively worth $20 billion—in undeclared accounts. Now, after initial resistance, Switzerland has agreed to hand over confidential data to the Justice Department, reports the New York Times.

Switzerland's strict banking secrecy laws, dating to the Middle Ages, outlaw any disclosure of clients' names or data unless they are suspected of a serious crime—and tax evasion doesn't qualify. But under pressure from the DoJ, the Swiss now accept that many clients have gone further than evasion and may have committed fraud. The DoJ hopes to prove that suspects hid their assets in accounts registered to bogus shell companies.

Source New York Times

And those who are not guilty of a crime already got their situation exposed by the bank.

[DianaR]

Itis only fair that the wealthy lose tax shelters that workers can't take advantage of. Millions of dollars that could be used within our borders can be recovered through closing these loopholes.

[giay]

I knew Swiss banks is where politicians and wealthy businessmen from my place deposit their funds, and its been their practice for many years.

[Offshore]

August 2009
Berlin - Swiss banking giant UBS said Wednesday it had agreed to give to American authorities the names of up to 4,450 US account holders who the Internal Revenue Service suspects of using Switzerland's vaunted banking secrecy rules to avoid paying billions of dollars in US taxes.

The announcement ends an eight-month legal battle that strained Swiss-US diplomatic ties, saw UBS agree to pay $780 million in fines, and had Swiss bankers worrying that the secrecy laws that made Zurich synonymous with wealth were under siege.

In a nutshell, the Swiss have said that they will disclose names where there's strong evidence of tax evasion, but not allow fishing expeditions by the US or other foreign governments. The US had at one point said it wanted the names of 52,000 UBS clients.

Nov 18th, 2009
The IRS revealed Tuesday that Swiss authorities did not have to spill the beans on Americans who had less than $248,200 (250,000 Swiss francs) in their accounts or received less than $99,280 (100,000 Swiss francs) in annual revenue from them. According to the newly unveiled annex, however, the Swiss appear to have stretched the definition of that kind of subterfuge. Under the annex, Switzerland defined "fraud and the like" to include failure to provide a W-9 disclosure form for three years if the account met two measures: having more than $992,802 (1 million Swiss francs) at any time from 2001 through 2008, and generating average annual revenue of more than 100,000 Swiss francs over three years.


The agreement also covers accounts of at least 250,000 Swiss francs if the American depositors used an off-shore shell company to hide ownership of the funds and if they engaged in a "scheme of lies." That could include using calling cards to disguise trading orders, and using debit cards, credit cards or loans to mask withdrawals from the Swiss accounts.

[FreedomOffshore]

I have concentrated on finding three small Swiss banks that fly below the radar. These are banks that operate within the cantons and are not part of the big Swiss Banks that Americans and most people from other countries use when they want a Swiss bank account. It is best to stick with these banks if you want an account. I have located some that only require a minimum deposit of about $1,000 USD value in a number of different currencies.


FREEDOM