Page 47 - Ekonomija i Biznis_noemvri 2015.indd
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BANKING
money with one of the strictest secre- which in recent years Switzerland was
cy laws in the world, decades later. in a way gradually preparing for what
should happen in 2018. In accordance
But what has changed and what has with the so-called „Program for Non-
led Swiss banks to disclose the identity Prosecution Agreements“ or so-called
of their depositors? The global finan- „Non-Target Letters for Swiss Banks“,
cial crisis, which later extended into published by the US Ministry of Justice
a debt crisis, prompted USA and the on August 29, 2013, the Swiss banks
European Union to seek new sources were asked to classify themselves in
of tax revenue. In this quest, the un- one of the three categories of non-
taxed funds that the citizens of these compliance with US tax regulations
countries have managed to transfer to and to start cooperation with the US
countries that refuse to disclose the tax authorities in sharing information
identity of their depositors were high on unregistered funds of American
on the list. Of course, Switzerland taxpayers. Consequently, given the
was on top of the list of these coun- costs associated with the procedures
tries. The pressure on Switzerland as and the certain costs for penalties
a country and on the Swiss banks is and agreements with US regulators
evident from a number of processes the Swiss regulator FINMA, in its No-
that US authorities raised against tice no. 56 from January 2014, urged
global Swiss banks in which (or with the banks to assess these costs and
whose assistance) many US compa- respectively allocate adequate provi-
nies and individuals managed to avoid sions for the financial year ended De-
paying taxes in the United States. No cember 31, 2013. After the penalties
lesser was the pressure from Germa- paid by the large Swiss banks such as
ny, Great Britain and several other UBS AG and Credit Suisse AG, which
European countries. This has practi- were accused of aiding tax evasion by
cally initiated the process through US companies and natural persons,
the Swiss government agreed to adopt
Switzerland, the largest offshore financial center, will the standard for data exchange if it
completely abandon the principles of protecting the becomes global. This is in view of the
identity of non-resident depositors in 2018 and start fact that the global application cre-
the automatic exchange of information with the tax ates equal operating conditions for
authorities of a number of countries-signatories of the all financial centers in the world and
OECD Agreement reduces the external vulnerability of
Switzerland.
Switzerland has already signed bi-
lateral agreements with a number
of countries on the basis of which it
shares information on the deposits
of citizens of these countries upon
request of their tax authorities. This
gradually started to melt the so-called
value added of Swiss banks and global
banks with their branches in Switzer-
land dealing with private banking. No
one currently knows how much of the
funds deposited in these banks are
due to the motive of tax evasion. Esti-
mates are that this percentage ranges
between 30 and 60 percent. According
to Boston Consulting Group, despite
the initiated process of outflow of
November 2015 47
