Switzerland must avoid a second bilateral tax
agreement with the US and continue to fight efforts to restrict
banking secrecy, the chairman of the Swiss Bankers Association
(SBA) has urged.
In a sweeping speech ahead of Swiss Bankers
Day, Patrick Odier said unfortunately the bilateral treaty on UBS
did not mark a final end to cross-border tax investigations.
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Odier’s comments come as US regulators
continue to apply pressure to foreign private banks, including
Credit Suisse, to disclose tax information on US taxpayers’
offshore accounts.
“We have two double taxation agreements with
the US which cover such cases. A solution must be found within the
agreements’ framework. The US should take the tax agreements with
Germany and the United Kingdom as an example,” said Odier.
Odier also criticised the approach adopted by
the US public prosecutors, calling it “too tough”.
“The banking sector cannot solve the problem
on its own and indicted Swiss banks would be very damaging for our
economy. A solution needs to be found,” he added.
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By GlobalData
Banking secrecy call to
arms
The Swiss Bankers Association would continue
to resist all efforts to restrict the financial privacy of foreign
clients, Odier added.
“For us, this also means that we need to very
closely examine all further amendments to the Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) global standard.
Neither Orwellian thinking nor fishing expeditions are in the
interests of free citizens,” he said.
Confident of more FATCA rule
changes
Odier was confident that foreign banks had not
heard the last on changes to the implementation rules for the
Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).
“The SBA was one of the first organisations to
point out the implementation problems to the US authorities,” he
added.
“Other countries have followed this example
and the US has now delayed the implementation of the law by one
year.”
He said FATCA will cost much more than it
would ever bring in additional tax revenues.
