<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=452 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Published March 28, 2009
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Tax crackdown brings fear of travelling to Swiss private bankers
Report says some fear they will be detained as countries such as the US and Germany step up measures to fight tax evasion
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(Zurich)
SWISS private banks are banning their top executives from travelling abroad, even to France and Germany, because of fears that they will be detained as part of a global crackdown on bank secrecy, the Financial Times reported.
The newspaper quoted an unnamed head of a leading private bank in Geneva as saying that steps by countries such as the US and Germany to fight tax evasion meant that banks felt that they had to limit travel to protect employees.
It cited four unnamed sources in the Geneva private banking industry as saying that some banks were introducing total travel bans for staff, even for neighbouring European countries.
'Private bankers aren't even travelling to France. The partners are not leaving Geneva at all,' FT quoted a senior industry figure as saying. The paper said that the travel bans come ahead of next week's meeting of leaders from the G-20 group of the world's biggest economies which will discuss the fight against tax evasion in offshore centres among other issues.
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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Fearing that the G-20 might blacklist them, Switzerland and other offshore financial centres agreed earlier this month to sign up to tax cooperation standards set up by the Organisation for the Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
But the Swiss Banking Association is not recommending that its members refrain from foreign travel abroad, its chairman said on Thursday.
Individual banks, however, were obviously free to choose their own approach, Pierre Mirabaud said in response to the FT report.
'The Swiss Banking Association made no such recommendations to its members,' Mr Mirabaud, a senior partner at Geneva-based private bank Mirabaud, told reporters.
'It may be individual banks. They are free to do whatever they want. I travel all the time, even in America. I have no fear of travelling,' he said, adding that he believed that 99.9 per cent of Swiss bankers were not involved in illegal activities when they travel. -- Reuters
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</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Tax crackdown brings fear of travelling to Swiss private bankers
Report says some fear they will be detained as countries such as the US and Germany step up measures to fight tax evasion
<TABLE class=storyLinks cellSpacing=4 cellPadding=1 width=136 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR class=font10><TD align=right width=20>
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SWISS private banks are banning their top executives from travelling abroad, even to France and Germany, because of fears that they will be detained as part of a global crackdown on bank secrecy, the Financial Times reported.
The newspaper quoted an unnamed head of a leading private bank in Geneva as saying that steps by countries such as the US and Germany to fight tax evasion meant that banks felt that they had to limit travel to protect employees.
It cited four unnamed sources in the Geneva private banking industry as saying that some banks were introducing total travel bans for staff, even for neighbouring European countries.
'Private bankers aren't even travelling to France. The partners are not leaving Geneva at all,' FT quoted a senior industry figure as saying. The paper said that the travel bans come ahead of next week's meeting of leaders from the G-20 group of the world's biggest economies which will discuss the fight against tax evasion in offshore centres among other issues.
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But the Swiss Banking Association is not recommending that its members refrain from foreign travel abroad, its chairman said on Thursday.
Individual banks, however, were obviously free to choose their own approach, Pierre Mirabaud said in response to the FT report.
'The Swiss Banking Association made no such recommendations to its members,' Mr Mirabaud, a senior partner at Geneva-based private bank Mirabaud, told reporters.
'It may be individual banks. They are free to do whatever they want. I travel all the time, even in America. I have no fear of travelling,' he said, adding that he believed that 99.9 per cent of Swiss bankers were not involved in illegal activities when they travel. -- Reuters
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