Swiss finance sector halved if bank secrecy dropped: banker
GENEVA (AFP) - - Switzerland's key financial services industry could be decimated if its trademark secrecy is given up as part of reforms to cope with the global economic crisis, a prominent Swiss private banker warned.
Without banking secrecy, "the financial centre would shrink by up to half of its current size," Ivan Pictet, a private banker who heads the Geneva Financial Centre bank association, told Le Temps daily on Tuesday.
"Rather than making up about 12 percent of gross domestic product, the financial sector would make up just about six or seven," he said when asked what would happen if Switzerland gives up its bank secrecy practices in the face of calls for greater financial system transparency.
Critics say that the system must be made more transparent so that financial risk can be more easily assessed and capital flows more easily monitored, two key failings contributing to the current crisis.
That has put Switzerland on the spot because its banking system has prided itself on offering complete secrecy for clients, which many critics claim means the country has in effect allowed wealthy foreign clients to evade tax.
GENEVA (AFP) - - Switzerland's key financial services industry could be decimated if its trademark secrecy is given up as part of reforms to cope with the global economic crisis, a prominent Swiss private banker warned.
Without banking secrecy, "the financial centre would shrink by up to half of its current size," Ivan Pictet, a private banker who heads the Geneva Financial Centre bank association, told Le Temps daily on Tuesday.
"Rather than making up about 12 percent of gross domestic product, the financial sector would make up just about six or seven," he said when asked what would happen if Switzerland gives up its bank secrecy practices in the face of calls for greater financial system transparency.
Critics say that the system must be made more transparent so that financial risk can be more easily assessed and capital flows more easily monitored, two key failings contributing to the current crisis.
That has put Switzerland on the spot because its banking system has prided itself on offering complete secrecy for clients, which many critics claim means the country has in effect allowed wealthy foreign clients to evade tax.
