Switzerland to relax bank secrecy?

The veil of Swiss banking secrecy is quietly being lifted — by Switzerland. This is the first line of a New York Times story, following the problems that Switzerland's embattled UBS bank has been having with the US authorities who are understandably angry about testimony and evidence (not to mention common knowledge) that Swiss banks have been helping American clients engage in criminal tax evasion.

The story says:

"The move would represent a significant shift in Switzerland’s banking secrecy laws, whose tradition dates to the Middle Ages."

(We don't think this formulates it entirely correctly - while the tradition is certainly very old, the actual laws they are talking about date to the 1930s - look here for example - but it is nevertheless a major step)

UBS began handing over data on hundreds of American clients with offshore private banking accounts to the Swiss taxing authority starting in August, the newspaper quoted insiders as saying, then added:

"The delivery to the (US) Justice Department, expected to take place within several months, would place American client names in the hands of federal prosecutors seeking to build criminal cases against wealthy Americans they suspect of tax evasion."

Swiss law makes disclosure of client data or names a crime unless the Swiss authorities think the client has committed a serious crime, like money laundering or tax fraud (such as might involve forging documents). Switzerland does not consider tax evasion to be a crime.

We'll watch this one with great interest. If Switzerland starts to change - who's next? Anyone for Singapore?