Banking secrecy was introduced in Switzerland in the thirties with the stated aim of protecting the privacy of bank clients. Fines of up to 50,000 Swiss Francs and 6 months imprisonment punish violations (Ziegler, 9). Violators are prosecuted regular(a) if a plaintiff has filed no criminal lawsuit. Since the passing of anti-money laundering legislation in the early 1990s, banking secrecy can no longer be relied upon to shelter property that originate from what would be considered a crime or a felony under Swiss law. Banks suspicious of having received such funds have the arrangement to inform the authorities, and a criminal investigation is launched.
However, since much of what qualifies, as tax evasion in other countries is not considered a crime or a felony under Swiss law, banks are not required to inform the authorities of the receipt of funds suspected to originate from tax evasion. This has made Switzerland quite winning for such funds and appears to be a source of rents for Swiss banks.
In recent years, Switzerland has come under considerable compress from other countries to relax its banking secrecy. In particular, in 1998, the European gist put pressure on Switzerland to agree to exchange breeding regarding bank accounts held by EU residents in Switzerland. During negotiations that took place...If you want to get at a full essay, order it on our website: Orderessay
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