One issue that hangs over swissy like the sword of damacles is the issue of swiss banking secrecy, and the possiblity that they will be forced to give it up.
However, yesterday Switzerland, Luxembourg and Austria all vowed to protect their banking secrecy and to speak with one voice to influence how the G.20 cracks down on tax havens. The G.20, which doesn’t include any of the three countries, is to hold a summit in April and high on the agenda is tackling tax havens.
The three countries voiced their displeasure at being effectively excluded from the process, Luxembourgs’ Treasury and Budget Minister Luc Frieden stating “The discussions that are taking place right now, unfortunately take place in organizations where our countries are not members, in particular, the G.20″ adding “we think it unacceptable that among our European and American friends, we have not had the possibility to have a debate together.”
EU finance ministers have asked the European Commission to look at ways of tackling uncooperative tax jurisdictions and how they could be censured, while the OECD has a blacklist of countries that won’t fully cooperate in tax evasion probes. Germany and France have asked for Switzerland to be added to the blacklist.
Swiss President and Finance Minister Hans Rudolf Merz in a news conference warned that the blacklists must be avoided when those such as Switzerland are not party to the talks, adding “It s the aim of the Swiss Government to avoid the automatic exchange of information because that would mean giving up banking secrecy.” Doesn’t sound to me as though they’re going to be all that cooperative.
