In an interview to Reuters, Deepak Sharma chairman of Citigroup’s private bank, professes that client privacy is more important and that should be protected and not bank secrecy.
According to Sharma confidentiality and secrecy are two different things and for him "confidentiality is the right of every client", which needs to be protected.
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"So long as you start to look beyond confidentiality, with most regulators today I don’t think you can have any secrecy anywhere, because regulators know exactly which clients come and open accounts with you.”
"We want to develop Singapore as an industry based on the leading fundamental drivers, not based on any tweaking of tax treaties and stuff like that," he adds.
"And to achieve that, the financial industry in Singapore understands and is aware of the changes happening not only in Singapore, but also in the US and Switzerland. And accordingly in partnership with the Monetary Authority of Singapore the industry is dealing with it.
"Clearly, all regulators around the world want to make sure that there are consistent standards when it comes to making sure that the money is legitimate, and they have the standards to make sure that any activity relating to money-laundering and terrorism is totally out," adds Sharma.
