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S U B S C R I B E
WRS stories about “banks”
Friday, 19 March, 2010
As pressure grows on the country’s tradition of banking secrecy, illicit funds which had been placed in Switzerland are now being moved to places that are still out of the spotlight, says a former money launderer who worked for South American drug traffickers. Former U.S. banking lawyer Kenneth Rijock, who has been briefing Swiss financiers in Geneva, was convicted of racketeering and money laundering during the 1980s. While in jail, he used his insider knowledge to assist a joint Swiss-American money laundering investigation, which resulted in a major seizure. Our Washington correspondent Daniel Ryntjes asked Mr. Rijock how he thought Swiss banking has changed since the recent U.S. investigations of UBS:
Monday, 15 February, 2010
Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz met with his counterparts from German-speaking countries at an informal summit in Luxembourg last night. He reportedly told leaders from Austria, Germany, Luxembourg and Lichtenstein that despite the pressure over banking secrecy, Switzerland wouldn’t accept total information exchange with foreign tax authorities. But the Sunday papers say Bern is nevertheless weighing its options to ease pressure over banking secrecy. And Switzerland could find inspiration in our tiny neighbor to the east: Lichtenstein. WRS’s Mark Butcher spoke with our reporter Jordan Davis, who’s been following the story:
Thursday, 11 February, 2010
If it’s the end of banking secrecy or even, as a guest earlier this week said, “the end of Switzerland as we know it,” then at least one person isn’t going to let it go without a fight. Economics journalist Myret Zaki, expert on the Swiss financial system, has been all over the media this week denouncing the hypocrisy of those who continue to attack the sector. For her, talk of ethics and morality are just a smokescreen. It’s a global battleground out there and Switzerland has been easy prey for bigger countries which want to develop their own wealth management industries. She says it’s time to level the playing field. Conor Lennon invited Zaki to the WRS studio:
Thursday, 11 February, 2010
Swiss banks and the Swiss government still have quite a few issues to iron out. The BBC’s Imogen Foulkes gives her take on banking—and secrecy:
Tuesday, 9 February, 2010
Money from wealthy clients is still haemorrhaging from UBS—that’s “outflow” in business speak—despite fourth quarter profits of 1.2 billion francs. CEO Oswald Grübel said in a statement that the figure will increase clients’ confidence in UBS, but many analysts are pointing out that Switzerland’s biggest bank got into the black thanks to a one-off tax credit and bonus payment cuts. To get an in-depth look at the problem, WRS’s Conor Lennon called on Rainer Skierka, an analyst at Bank Sarasin in Zürich, and Stewart Hamilton, professor of accounting and finance at the IMD business school in Lausanne:
Tuesday, 9 February, 2010
Switzerland and Germany are trying to keep the dust-up over tax evasion from souring relations between the two nations. Officials in Berlin say German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke to Swiss President Doris Leuthard by phone yesterday. But in Bern, the growing pressure from Germany is shaking up the certainty that Swiss banking secrecy is eternal and the Liberal Party—long allied with business interests—is showing signs of dissension. WRS’s Jordan Davis reports:
Monday, 8 February, 2010
Banking secrecy has never looked so shaky: Even Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz—who a year ago said it’s here to stay—is now giving interviews in which he urges the banking sector to consider the idea if it wants to expand into the EU. WRS’s Conor Lennon looks to Brussels-based Jean Russotto, chairman of the Swiss Chamber of Commerce for Belgium and Luxembourg, and Michel Dérobert, secretary general from the Swiss Private Bankers Association for reaction:
Friday, 5 February, 2010
A willingness on the part of France and Germany to buy stolen data to chase tax cheats may could spawn a lucrative market. What’s to stop other disgruntled employees from following suit and steal data for money? After all, the risk of getting caught may seem worth if it means legal protection and a very handsome check. While banks may have fairly ironclad security, those systems are only as strong as their weakest link—and that link is usually a human one. So what’s a Swiss bank to do?
WRS’s Carla Drysdale puts these questions to John Ederer, Deputy Head of Forensic at KPMG Switzerland, based in Zurich:
Thursday, 4 February, 2010
A number of countries have jumped on the “stolen data” bandwagon—a worrying sign for Switzerland. After Germany said it was keen to buy illegally obtained information on customer accounts held in a Swiss bank, Holland, Denmark and Austria said they’d be happy to do the same. But it raises the question: What the precedent this sets? WRS’s Conor Lennon spoke with Torsten Riecke, a journalist at German financial newspaper Handelsbatt.
Thursday, 28 January, 2010
UBS faces renewed risks of criminal action if the U.S. and Switzerland can’t resolve their differences. Last week’s Federal Administrative Court judgment effectively blocks the sending of most of the 4,450 U.S. client names, a crucial part of a bilateral settlement reached last August.
The Swiss Justice Department says it will now seek new negotiations to resolve the matter and may go to the Swiss Parliament if necessary. They want to prevent the U.S. from reviving civil action to force UBS to disclose the names of all its clients in a Florida court.
Tax lawyer Kevin Thorne says UBS also faces the risk of criminal action, related to an earlier deal between the US and the Swiss bank. The former U.S. tax official and adviser to Swiss banks has been speaking with our Washington correspondent Daniel Ryntjes:
Wednesday, 27 January, 2010
Later today, the Federal Cabinet is expected to give its response to the latest developments in the long-running dispute between United States tax authorities and banking giant UBS.
On Friday, Switzerland’s federal administrative court effectively froze a 2009 agreement between Switzerland and the United States. Under the deal, signed last August, Bern agreed that UBS should hand over around 4,500 names of American clients with offshore accounts. The Swiss government stepped in to prevent increasing U.S. pressure from undermining UBS.
The court ruling, which can’t be challenged and sets a precedent, has cast doubt over whether it was legal for UBS to hand over those 4,500 names.
And it puts the Federal Cabinet—which signed the deal in August—in the hot-seat. Today, ministers will have to respond to the ruling. WRS’s Carla Drysdale turns to Milan Patel, a Geneva-based lawyer and former senior trial attorney at the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, for significance of these latest developments.
Tuesday, 26 January, 2010
The U.S. government says it will not be taking immediate action following a Swiss court’s decision to deny a request for information about a UBS customer. The Swiss court ruling, made at the end of last week, has cast some doubt over the ability of the Swiss bank to legally hand over the names of 4,450 American clients at UBS. The agreement to give up the names was the central plank of a bilateral deal between the two nations announced last August. From Washington, Daniel Ryntjes reports:
Monday, 25 January, 2010
There were warnings that British bankers would flee London to escape Gordon Brown’s proposed 50 percent “supertax” announced late last year. We found one banker who recently brought his family to Switzerland for the good life, in the quiet Zurich neighborhood of Zolliken to be exact. WRS’s Carla Drysdale spoke with his wife, Anne Wrobel, herself a former managing director of a London financial insurance firm, but she says taxes weren’t the only consideration in their move:
Monday, 18 January, 2010
With the dust settling on last year’s financial crisis, hopes of reform were fading for many critics of the banking system. Then in December, the UK announced a one-off tax on excessive banking bonuses, followed by a U.S.-instituted tax on banks to recover “every single dime the American people are owed, and now here in Switzerland, financial authority FINMA is looking at limiting bonuses at UBS. So why now? Is economic or politics behind the trend? WRS’s Pete Forster looks to professor Nuno Fernandes, a specialist on international financial markets and corporate governance at IMD business school in Lausanne, for some answers:
Friday, 8 January, 2010
A Swiss court has ruled that the country’s financial regulator, FINMA, broke the law when it ordered banking giant UBS to hand over data on 255 of its clients to American authorities last year. FINMA had argued that the government instructed it to prevent legal proceedings against UBS, and that it acted to save the bank from insolvency, but the court says the regulator exceeded its authority by ordering the bank to hand over client information.
The ruling’s been welcomed by lawyers representing UBS clients, who’ve described it as “an important step.” However, they say it’s likely the case will now be brought before the federal tribunal. WRS’s Conor Lennon turned to Beat Kappeler, economist and writer for the Swiss newspaper NZZ, for the latest on the story:
