A new chapter for Swiss banks

In the debate over supplying foreign countries with information on customer accounts the EU has sided with the US. For the Swiss paper Le Temps, the move jeopardises Switzerland's status as an international financial location: "This blow will perhaps not kill the principle of banking secrecy, but it risks eliminating the distinction Switzerland makes between fraud and tax evasion. To conserve the former, which is indispensable for the reputation of the financial location, it will no doubt sacrifice the latter. This concession would put an end to undeclared cross-border transactions and open a new chapter in Swiss banking history. Switzerland is slowly starting to realise the price of not having introduced the reforms that are now being demanded of it at knife-point."

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