Page 46 - Ekonomija i Biznis_noemvri 2015.indd

РBУAБNРKИINКGА
Igor Davkov
The holds a PhD in the field of
monetary economics and finance
SWISS BANKING
SECRECY
GOES TO HISTORY
S witzerland, the largest off-
shore financial center, will
completely abandon the prin-
ciples of protecting the iden- various reasons. By the end of the 19th
tity of non-resident deposi-
tors in 2018 and start the automatic
exchange of information with the tax
authorities of a number of countries-
signatories of the OECD Agreement.
Based on this Agreement, the tax au-
thorities will automatically exchange
data on deposits and other financial
assets of their non-resident deposi-
tors. This virtually puts an end to the
legal framework which, for more than
300 years, has protected the identity
of foreign depositors in Swiss banks
in various forms. Historically, it all
began in 1713 when the High Council
of Geneva passed a Law under which
bankers were forbidden to disclose
information on the identity of cus-
tomers and their deposited funds, to
anyone other than the depositor. This
Law started the long-year reputation
46 November 2015
of Switzerland as a so-called „safe ha-
ven“ for all those who have sought
asylum for their financial capital for
century, the provisions of the Swiss
Civil Code provided a legal framework
that supported bank secrecy. In order
to survive the financial upheavals in
the twentieth century, such as the
collapse of financial markets in 1929
and the subsequent Great Depression,
for Switzerland it was inevitable to
retain the benefit from the principle
of bank secrecy and, relatively speak-
ing, the natural advantage over oth-
er countries in Europe. The Banking
Law from 1934, passed in response to
the pressure of Germany and France
on Swiss banks to reveal information
about the identity of their German
and French depositors in the name of
the so-called good for the country, en-
abled Switzerland to be a place where
individuals and companies from
around the world could protect their