Switzerland is synonymous with discreet banking but 75 years after Swiss banking secrecy was enshrined in law, the practice is under massive international pressure. Banking secrecy obliges banks to keep information about their clients confidential, except in cases of criminal investigation.
But what happens when a crime in one country is not recognised as such in Switzerland, as is the case with tax evasion?
swissinfo documents this changing point in the history of banking secrecy, with facts, background reports and analysis.
The information is available in the languages German, French, Italian, English, Spanish Portuguese, Arabic, Chinese and Japanese.
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/index.html
swissinfo is an enterprise of SRG SSR idée suisse (the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation). Its role is to inform Swiss living abroad about events in their homeland and to raise awareness of Switzerland in other countries. swissinfo achieves this through its nine-language internet news and information platform http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/index.html.
Contact:
Monika Gysin, interim Head of Marketing-Communications
Tel.: +41/31/350’95’48
E-mail: Monika.Gysin@swissinfo.ch