Swiss to End Secret Bank Accounts

[naveen_reloaded]

ZURICH, Switzerland, March 14 (UPI) -- Switzerland is bowing to international pressure, agreeing to end its policy of allowing secretive banking, officials said.Switzerland is bowing to international pressure, agreeing to end its policy of allowing secretive banking, officials said. The Times of London reported Saturday that the move means Switzerland will join Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Andorra, which also agreed this week to share limited information on their accounts on request from foreign governments.
The newspaper said Zurich's decision to end its 300 years of banking secrecy precedes the G20 meeting, where British Prime Minister Gordon Brown plans to press for international tax havens.
Switzerland has said it would share information on bank accounts with other countries on individual cases. Swiss Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz said despite the change, there would be no "fishing expeditions" for information.
"It's an enormous change, the most fascinating development since the end of the Second World War," said Jay Krause, a partner at Withers. "The Swiss continue to say that banking secrecy remains. That is in part true but it is for ever changed."





*www.upi.com/Business_News/2009/03/14/Swiss_to_end_secret_bank_accounts/UPI-61721237062256/

 

[mrintech]

Good

 

[Tech.Masti]

Hmmm.... Bad for those account holders

 

[Stuge]

Nice !

 

[freshseasons]

In September when i was in Geneva it was so much fun and frolic.
Things looked so bright and felt there was justice in this world.

There was a whole lot of buzz happening around and it wasn't just from the rated watches or shopping .

This is a bad news, not in a way if you have black cash and want to hide it.That is the darker part.
But for the sheer factor of banking pleasure and respect Indians used to get there.

I have seen banks literally drooling over Indian customers, and to think that some had even accustomed to basic Indian hindi words. The respect wasn't just symbiolised at tourist places like Interlaken or Lucern but all over Switzerland except for French oriented places like Geneva.But respect was almost everywhere.

.
I think this is going to change the scenario next time i visit it.

 

[naveen_reloaded]

In September when i was in Geneva it was so much fun and frolic.
Things looked so bright and felt there was justice in this world.

There was a whole lot of buzz happening around and it wasn't just from the rated watches or shopping .

This is a bad news, not in a way if you have black cash and want to hide it.That is the darker part.
But for the sheer factor of banking pleasure and respect Indians used to get there.

I have seen banks literally drooling over Indian customers, and to think that some had even accustomed to basic Indian hindi words. The respect wasn't just symbiolised at tourist places like Interlaken or Lucern but all over Switzerland except for French oriented places like Geneva.But respect was almost everywhere.

.
I think this is going to change the scenario next time i visit it.

i dont get u ...

just becoz they gave respect ...u want them to hide all the worlds black money and bring the world to poverty ?

this is great news...
now no one can hide thier money ...

no one knows how much black money is there in swiss accs ??

 

[freshseasons]

No you dont get me.
Its not as simple as in black and white that for respect i would not want Swiss Bank to end the secret accounts.It would be far stupid assumption.

Either way just because people keep black money it doesnt mean world is suffering with poverty because of them.Moreso since not all of it is black.

Wealth is not something that is freely available and that it is distributed equally amongst all.
Wealth has to be created ,earned or made. It is not that people who made money hide it from others or it is our duty as moral citizens to act like leechers and extract the money from those hard earning individuals. Yes def when corrupt politicians or official do it it is altogether crime and should be looked down upon.But this toic is not about them.
Just because there are few of those , it doesnt means that the genuine ones who have safe parking of their money should be penalized.

There are some people who have genuinely earned money and want to park it with the bank who have sound and stable financial backing. Moreover if you look at few of the incometax slabs from some countries it ridiculous. Poor laws sometimes weaken necessary and just laws.
You would be surprised to know that most business houses DLF,Infosys,Wiro,Tata ,Reliance park about 25% of their profits with those banks.
And this is because if those company pay complete tax up to the last penny there will not be enough money left to sustain business forget keeping in line of profit and feeding the vast armies of employees.

Its not as if these giant companies are profiting from saving the tax and getting rich. Were they to pay income tax as per the rule book there would not be any company left in India (
Income tax, service tax, excise ,cess etc) who could operate business viably without playing around with the account books.

I am all for the abolition of secret Bank Accounts if :-

1)Government make really sane tax slabs in the context of modern business needs and working.

No wonder Reliance, Tata etc sometimes openly flout the tax just to stay competitive in market due to our stupid tax slab.
If govt or for that any other govt in World make sensible tax laws they will actually see their tax revenue increasing. No one like to play around the law.
In todays scenario its not like people get rich saving income tax.