Swiss Private Banking
UBS FACES UP TO CHANGING OFFSHORE PRIVATE BANKING MODEL
Changes in the worldwide offshore private banking model and reputational damage from the losses of its investment banking arm mean UBS may continue to suffer private banking outflows. Whereas previously clients at UBS could rely on strict bank secrecy and privacy tools like numbered bank accounts, fisticuffs with US authorities have rendered some of... »
SWISS BANKS STAY IN ITALY DESPITE LIGHTNING RAIDS
Despite a mix of generous tax amnesties and lightning police raids on their offices, Swiss banks in Italy are well position to re-receive Italian clients who leave their domestic Swiss operations, say experts. The Italian branches of Swiss banks should receive enough Italian business to offset the majority of outflows should thousands of wealthy Italians... »
UNPUBLISHED DOC ILLUSTRATES FURTHER BANK SECRECY PLANS
United States and EU officials have plans to give themselves greater access to each other´s secret banking databases – reports German newspaper Handelsblatt. An unpublished paper from the office of the EU President indicates that authorities aim to track terror payments more ruthlessly by sharing access to banking information, rather than through simple reveiws... »
TAX CRACKDOWN UNEARTHS OFFSHORE BANK ACCOUNT SECRETS
A six month amnesty programme for offshore account holders renewed last month has recived over 3000 applications, according to the IRS. The tax amnesty offers those with undisclosed offshore accounts the chance to escape heavier fines and criminal prosecution, in return for a full confession and full payment of back-taxes with interest. Many of... »
FISHING EXPEDITIONS NOT WELCOME, SWISS BANKS SAY
”Indiscriminate” requests for confidential records will not be supported by Swiss banks, even once new OECD rules come into play, according to a leading figure in the Swiss banking industry. In a bid to calm HNWI’s worried over bank secrecy, SBA (Swiss Bankers Association) head Urs Roth reiterated that bank account details are still... »
PRIVATE BANKS HIT BY COST OF GREATER TRANSPARENCY
Private wealth managers have learnt to be more transparent the hard way, but new measures will increase the cost of operations, prompting further consolidation among private banks. A year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the combination of volatile markets, $65 billion madoff fraud, and the relaxation of bank secrecy rules have conspired to... »
ING AGREES SALE OF SWISS PRIVATE BANKING UNIT
Dutch bank and insurer ING Group agreed Wednesday to sell it Swiss Private Banking unit to Swiss private bank Julius Baer for 520 million CHF ($505 million), in order to honour a 10 billion euro government bailout loan it received a year ago. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/08/business/global/08ing.html »