Swiss banking association sees tax information transparency as global trend
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E-mail Xinhua, May 8, 2014
As for the new automatic exchange of information (AEOI) standard in tax matters accepted earlier this week by Switzerland, a Swiss banking industry association said on Wednesday that transparency in tax information was a global trend, and it did not change the long tradition of bank secrecy in this European country.
Sindy Schmiegel Werner, spokesperson of the Swiss Bankers Association, told Xinhua this afternoon that the trend towards more transparency in tax matters was a global one, which concerned both Switzerland and other financial centers across the world.
Werner said that it was not a surprise for the banks in Switzerland that Swiss will join the OECD declaration on the automatic tax information exchange.
The banks in Switzerland were willing to adopt the automatic exchange of information along with other financial centers, provided that the exchanged information is only applied for tax purposes, as she highlighted.
But Werner particularly stressed that the automatic exchange of information did not change the bank client secrecy provisions as they were laid down in the Swiss Banking Act which enjoyed a 80-year long history.
She noted that it should be distinguished between bank client secrecy in general, which is protecting the clients' financial privacy stipulated in the Banking Act, and the information exchange for tax purposes.
"One important characteristic of the exchange of information is that it is only related to tax matters. Other authorities or third parties won't have access to the exchanged data," said Werner.
During the OECD's annual Ministerial Council Meeting, over 40 states, including Switzerland and Singapore, signed the Declaration on Automatic Exchange of Information in Tax Matters in Paris on Tuesday.
The declaration urged countries to implement a new single global standard on automatic exchange of information, which was developed by OECD and would oblige countries and jurisdictions to obtain all financial information from their financial institutions and exchange that information automatically with other jurisdictions on an annual basis.
The seal of approval from Switzerland signaled its commitment to global crackdown on tax evasion and fraud, as well as its concession in nearly-a-century-long tradition of bank secrecy. Endi
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