Switzerland news: Growing Russian interest in Swiss financial sector

Switzerland’s Neue Zürcher Zeitung reports on growing interest from Russians in placing their funds in Switzerland.

Switzerland news: Julius Bär bank under investigation for money-laundering in carbon credit VAT fraud case

German-language media report that private bank Julius Bär is under investigation by French authorities for money-laundering. [Update 1/10/14: Reuters covers story in English here]

Switzerland “suffering under Brazil’s arbitrary tax decisions”

An article in the Neuer Zürcher Zeitung is practically a case study of some of the key issues at stake in the international tax debate.

Switzerland news: banking and international industry welcome OECD’s new global information exchange standard

The Swiss Neue Zürcher Zeitung covers the announcement of the OECD’s global standard for automatic information with the headline “New tax reality” and the subheader “pressure on bank secrecy”:

Cayman registers almost 20% of FATCA Foreign Financial Institutions globally; more than the UK, Switzerland and Luxembourg combined

Guernsey – population 65 thousand – was recently reported to be eighth worldwide in number of Foreign Financial Institutions registered under the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). FATCA, which became law in March of 2010, requires foreign financial institutions (FFIs) with US clients to register with the IRS.

Which countries have registered the most Foreign Financial Institutions under FATCA so far?

Credit Suisse: what the Swiss media are saying

On Monday this week, Credit Suisse pleaded guilty to tax evasion in the US and was fined a record 2.5 billion USD. However, the bank will keep its license, no client data will have to be handed over to the authorities and the top management will not be affected.

This is a sample of the extensive coverage in Swiss media:

Austerity is a political decision: Netherlands edition

Following reports in February that a crackdown on mansion tax avoidance in the UK had raised five times more than expected, comes this:

“The large number of Dutch “zwartspaarders” (people using foreign bank accounts to avoid taxes – literally “black savers”)  who have come forward to the authorities has meant an unexpected windfall of almost half a billion euros. Six thousand tax avoiders have reported three billion in illicit wealth since September, according to new numbers from the secretary of finance. The tax authorities expect revenues of a cool 450 million euros.”

Switzerland news: Nostalgia for the golden days of foreign tax abuse from the Neue Zürcher Zeitung

The Neue Zürcher Zeitung has a revealing article about how Swiss private banking has changed over the years. Based on anonymous quotes from former bankers – some of which sound a bit too perfect e.g. “My job has become a nightmare” – it presents a stylized, mostly uncritical narrative (this is also pointed out by the first comments below the article).

Key extracts and selected quotes:

Brazil news: Swiss private bank Julius Baer snaps up country’s largest independent wealth management firm

Uruguay’s El Pais reports that Swiss private bank Julius Baer has acquired an 80% stake in Brazilian wealth management firm GPS. Julius Baer had already bought 30% of GPS – which manages 4.7 billion euros in assets – in 2011.

City of London fighting for UK to stay in EU: the Swiss media perspective

An article in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung provides a Swiss perspective on the City of London’s position regarding the EU:

“The City of London wants to remain part of the EU, even if the EU doesn’t manage to implement reforms. The Financial Centre is thus diametrically opposed to the governing Conservatives”.