Banker vs Swiss banking.
| Auteur | Heddema, Renske |
| Fonction | Money |
Rarely has the publication of a book caused a greater turmoil in Switzerland than the memoirs of Swiss banker Hans J. Baer. Swiss News presents excerpts of conversations with Baer and some of the reactions his book has provoked.
In interviews prior to publication 'Seid umschlungen, Millionen' ('Be Embraced, Thou Millions'), Hans J. Baer, the honorary president of the largest private bank in Switzerland, had already expressed some very stark views on the Swiss banking sector. The financial world was not amused. And when the book appeared, a storm broke loose.
The golden role writ in stone is that Swiss bankers are never to fail Swiss banking secrecy in public. Even when Swiss banking secrecy suffers increasing attacks by the EU and critical Swiss citizens, the bankers will close the ranks. The bank-client confidentiality, as the banks themselves believe, is the phenomenon to be too important for the national treasury, to let it slip away.
Making up for some 14 per cent of the national economy, Swiss private banking can't be missed as a basis of Switzerland's welfare. The government and bankers speak with one voice when it comes to the defence of current practice. Therefore, discussions about the difference between tax fraud and tax evasion need to be avoided. They would only open Pandora's Box.
"Fat and Impotent!"
Yet, this was exactly what happened when Hans Baer declared in his book that "Swiss banking secrecy has made us fat and impotent. It is a defensive tool, keeping Switzerland away from global competition."
Confronted with the observation that, as a banker, he would certainly not be allowed by his peers to make such a statement, Baer seems surprised. He does not seem to know of any 'gentleman's agreement' being broken this way. By using Churchill's description of post war Germany--"Fat, but impotent"--Baer simply wants to stress the importance of adequate training in the banking sector, he says. In his view, the Swiss banks are in a poor state, compared to the international competition.
Away from Transparency
However, Hans Barf's criticism goes further. Swiss banking secrecy develops in exactly the opposite direction of the general movement towards transparency in the financial world. The Swiss People's Party, even wants to incorporate banking secrecy into the Swiss constitution. Baer calls the step totally incomprehensible for foreigners and incompatible with international law. According to Baer, it is another step towards a...
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