The wealthy, landlocked Switzerland saw banking secrecy as a way to build an empire similar to that of France, Spain, and the United Kingdom. In 1815, the Congress of Vienna formally established Switzerland's international neutrality which led to a large capital influx. During the 1780s, Swiss bank accounts began insuring deposits which contributed to their reputation for financial security. As a way of avoiding the Protestant banking system, Catholic French Kings deposited their holdings in Geneva accounts. Swiss banking secrecy was born in Geneva during the 1700s.īank secrecy in the Swiss region can be traced to the Great Council of Geneva which outlawed the disclosure of information about the European upper class in 1713. Banking in Switzerland has been portrayed, to varying degrees of accuracy, in overall popular culture, books, movies, and television shows. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), total banking assets amount to 467% of total gross domestic product. Banking in Switzerland has historically played, and still continues to play, a dominant role in the Swiss economy and society.
Swiss number account series#
The two large banks– UBS and Credit Suisse are regulated by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), and the Swiss National Bank (NSB) which derives its authority from a series of federal statutes. It consistently ranks in the top three states on the Financial Secrecy Index and was named first many times, most recently in 2018.
Switzerland's main lingual hubs, Geneva (for French), Lugano (for Italian), and Zürich (for German) service the different geographical markets. The Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) estimated in 2018 that Swiss banks held US$6.5 trillion in assets or 25% of all global cross-border assets. Since 1934, banking secrecy laws have been violated by four people: Christoph Meili (1997), Bradley Birkenfeld (2007), Rudolf Elmer (2011), and Hervé Falciani (2014).
Swiss number account code#
Employees working in Switzerland and abroad at Swiss banks "have long adhered to an unwritten code similar to that observed by doctors or priests". Although disclosing criminal activities by banks, who do not enjoy a good reputation even in Switzerland, is generally well seen by the Swiss public, disclosing client information has been considered a criminal offence since the early 1900s. Despite an international push to meaningfully roll back banking secrecy laws in the country, Swiss social and political forces have minimized and reverted much of proposed roll backs. Switzerland has been one of the largest offshore financial centers and tax havens in the world since the mid-20th century. These laws, which were used to protect assets of persons being persecuted by Nazi authorities, have also been used by people and institutions seeking to illegally evade taxes, hide assets, or generally commit financial crime.Ĭontroversial protection of foreign accounts and assets during World War II sparked a series of proposed financial regulations seeking to temper bank secrecy to little success. Starting as a way to protect wealthy European banking interests, Swiss banking secrecy was codified in 1934 with the passage of the landmark federal law, the Federal Act on Banks and Savings Banks. Switzerland has a long, kindred history of banking secrecy and client confidentiality reaching back to the early 1700s. Banking is seen as emblematic of Switzerland, along with the Swiss Alps, Swiss chocolate, watchmaking and mountaineering. A hub of tourism, many private banks service the city and maintain underground bunkers and storage facilities for gold at the foothills of the Swiss Alps.īanking in Switzerland dates to the early eighteenth century through Switzerland's merchant trade and has, over the centuries, grown into a complex, regulated, and international industry. Pictured: the Mont Cervin Palace in Zermatt.
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