swiss banks sb

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SWISS BANKS.(sb)

INTRODUCTION.

Swiss neutrality and national soerei!nty" lon! re#o!ni$ed by %orei!n nations" &ae%ostered a stable

eniron'ent in w&i#& t&e banin! se#tor was able to deelo and t&rie.

Swit$erland &as 'aintained

neutrality t&rou!& bot& World Wars" is not a 'e'ber o% t&e *uroean Union" and

was not een a

'e'ber o% t&e United Nations until +,,+

Currently an estimated one-third of all funds held outside the country of origin (sometimes called

"offshore" funds) are kept in Switzerland. In 2! Swiss anks managed #S$2.% trillion. &he

following year they handled #S$' illion less which has een attriuted to oth a ear market

and stricter regulations on Swiss anking. y 2 this figure has risen to roughly %. trillion

Swiss francs (#S$%.' trillion).

&he ank of International Settlements* an organization that facilitates cooperation among the

world+s central anks* is head,uartered in the city of asel. ounded in !/* the IS chose to

locate in Switzerland ecause of the country+s neutrality* which was important to an organization

founded y countries that had een on oth sides of 0orld 0ar I.

oreign anks operating in Switzerland manage 1 illion Swiss francs worth of assets.

In 2* the financial sector comprised !!.% of Switzerland+s 345 and employed

appro6imately !7* people (!/%* of whom work in the anking sector)8 this represents

aout 7.% of the total Swiss workforce. 9s of !! :ctoer 21* the anking industry in

Switzerland has an a;erage le;erage ratio (assets


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=IS&:>?Swiss ank Corporation traces its history to !17'. In that year* si6 pri;ate anking firms in

asel* Switzerland* pooled their resources to form theBankverein* a consortium that acted as an

underwriting syndicate for its memer anks. 9mong the original memer anks were

ischoff zu St 9lan* @hinger A Cie.* B. erian-orcart* 5assa;ant A Cie.* B. >iggenach and

;on Speyr A Cie.&he estalishment of Doint-stock anks in Switzerland such as Swiss ank+s

earliest predecessors (often structured as a Swiss Eerein) was dri;en y the industrialization of

the country and the construction of railroads in the mid-!th century.

&he asler ank;erein was formally organized in !12 in asel* replacing the original

ank;erein consortium. asler ank;erein was founded with an initial commitment of /

million C=* of which % million of initial share capital was paid in. 9mong the ank;erein+s

early ackers was the ank in 0interthur* one of the early predecessors of the #nion ank of

Switzerland. &he ank e6perienced initial growing pains after hea;y losses in 3ermany caused

the ank to suspend its di;idend in fa;or of a loss reser;e. y !1* asler ank;erein has

accumulated enough capital to resume di;idends* initially at an 1 annual rate and thenincreasing to ! in !11.

asler ank;erein later comined with FGrcher ank;erein in !17 to ecome the asler A

FGrcher ank;erein. &he ne6t year* asler 4epositenank and Schweizerische #nionank were

ac,uired. 9fter the take-o;er of the asler 4epositenank* the ank changes its name to

Schweizerischer ank;erein (Swiss ank). &he @nglish name of the ank was changed to

Swiss ank Corporation in !!.


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1900-1939

&he St. 3allen* Switzerland* offices of Swiss ank Corporation c.!2 .

SC continued to grow in the early decades of the 2th century* ac,uiring weaker ri;als. In

!%* SC purchased an,ue d+@spine* atio A Cie* estalishing a ranch in 3ene;a*

Switzerland* for the first time.&wo years later* in !1* the ank ac,uired ratelli 5as,uali* a

ank in Chiasso* Switzerland* its first representation in the Italian-speaking portion of the

country. &his was followed y the ! ac,uisition of ank fGr 9ppenzell (est. !1%%) and the

!!2 ac,uisition of an,ue d+@scompte et de 4Hpots.

&he onset of 0orld 0ar I put a hold on much of the ank+s de;elopment. 9lthough SC

sur;i;ed the war intact* it suffered the loss of its in;estments in a numer of large industrial

companies. e;ertheless* the ank surpassed ! illion C= for the first time at the end of !!1

and grew to 2* employees y !2. In !!1* SC purchased Htau6 5rHcieu6 S9 Htalor

to refine precious metals and produce ank ingots. the company would e estalished as a

separate susidiary in !/% and spun-off in !1. &he impact of the stock market crash of !2

and the 3reat 4epression would e se;ere* particularly as the Swiss franc suffered maDor

de;aluation in !/%. &he ank would see its assets fall from a !2 peak of !.% illion C= to its

!!1 le;els of ! illion C= y !/%.

In !/* SC adopted its three keys logo symolizing confidence* security and discretion. &he

logo was designed y a Swiss artist and illustrator* 0arDa =onegger-Ja;ater.

W/ IS SWISS BANK 0A1OUS2

is a legal principle in some Durisdictions under whichanksare not allowed to pro;ide to

authorities personal and account information aout their customers unless certain conditions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank


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apply (for e6ample* a criminal complaint has een filedK!L). In some cases* additional pri;acy is

pro;ided to eneficial owners through the use of numered ank accountsor otherwise. ank

secrecy is pre;alent in certain countries* such asSwitzerland* Singapore*Jeanonand

Ju6emourg* as well asoffshore anksand other ta6 ha;ensunder ;oluntary or statutory pri;acy

pro;isions.

Created y the Swiss Banking Actof !/'* which led to the famous Swiss ank* the principle of

ank secrecy is always considered one of the main aspects ofpri;ate anking.It has also een

accused y3:sand go;ernments of eing one of the main instruments of underground

economy and organized crime* in particular following the class action suit against the Eatican

ank in the !s* the Clearstreamscandal and the terrorist attacks of Septemer !!* 2!.

ormer ank employees from anks in Switzerland (#S*Bulius aer) and Jiechtenstein (J3&

3roup) ha;e testified that their former institutions helped clients e;ade illions of dollars in ta6es

y routing money through offshore ha;ens in the Cariean and Switzerland. :ne of these*

>udolf . @lmer* wrote* "It is a gloal prolem...:ffshore ta6 e;asion is the iggest theft among

societies and neighor states in this world."K2L&he Swiss 5arliament ratified on Bune !* 2! an

agreement etween the Swiss and the #nited States go;ernments allowing #S to transmit to the

#S authorities information concerning '*'7 9merican clients of #S suspected of ta6

e;asion.K/LK'L

0hether in use y corporations worldwide or as depicted in criminal usage throughout cinema

and other popular entertainment* the ,uestion persists as to why people use Swiss ank accounts.

&here certainly e6ists an implication that* for some reason* Swiss ank accounts are especially

attracti;e to more illicit operations* and are apparently popular for illegal purposes. @;en with

law-aiding ,uestions aside* Swiss anks are often portrayed as among the premiere financial
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_secrecy#cite_note-0http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbered_bank_accounthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbered_bank_accounthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerlandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerlandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singaporehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxembourghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offshore_bankhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offshore_bankhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offshore_bankhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_havenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_havenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_bankhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_bankinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_bankinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGOhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organized_crimehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearstreamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11,_2001_attackshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UBShttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UBShttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Baerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_secrecy#cite_note-1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_secrecy#cite_note-tsr.ch-2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_secrecy#cite_note-3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_secrecy#cite_note-0http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbered_bank_accounthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerlandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singaporehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxembourghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offshore_bankhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_havenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_bankhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_bankinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGOhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organized_crimehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearstreamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11,_2001_attackshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UBShttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Baerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_secrecy#cite_note-1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_secrecy#cite_note-tsr.ch-2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_secrecy#cite_note-3


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institutions on @arth* cateringto the wealthiest people and companies that the gloal fiscal scene

has to offer.

#nlike many media portrayals* the mass usage of Swiss anking y oth ,uestionale and

legitimate clients alike is actually ased in reality8 as recently as 2* the financial sector

represented o;er !! of SwitzerlandMs 3ross 4omestic 5roduct (345) and employed almost

2* people* o;er 7 of the total Swiss workforce* not to mention employing o;er !*

people aroad. In 2!* Swiss anks managed $2.% trillion 9merican dollars. &hat numer has

decreased for numerousgloal marketreasons* ut is still strongly impressi;ely and impressi;ely

strong.

In light of an o;ious popularity and widespread reputation* what truly are the reasons why

people use Swiss ank accountsN

Secrecy

&he primary difference etween Swiss anks and otherwise is that anking institutions in

Switzerland incorporate stringent confidentiality policies* which makes this likely the primary

reason why people use Swiss ank accounts. #nlike countries such as the #.S.* Swiss anking

officers regard their relationships with their clients much like lawyers and doctors* e;en priests*

maintaining an asolute le;el of pri;acy* with penalties if such confidence is disco;ered to e

roken. &his makes it easier for illicit anking to occur* especially for means like ta6 e;asion*

where all that is needed is a deposit account without its amount eing easily a;ailale8 ut also*

such pri;acy can e appealing to e;en the most upstanding citizens who wish for their records to

e safe and secure.

eutrality

Switzerland has a somewhat uni,ue @uropean distinction of eing rather neutral on the
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worldwide political scene* not ha;ing taken a side in either 0orld 0ar* and not e;en ecoming a

memer of the #nited ations until 228 in fact* this neutrality is one of the more sutle reasons

that people use Swiss ank accounts.&his positions it as ad;antageous for long-term in;estment

operations* unlike other secrecy-laden anking countries* such as in 9frica and the iddle @ast

that* though they pose the appeal of pri;acy* also haror the unfortunate red-flag reputation of

financing terrorism* war* etc.* and thus usually garnering more in;estigati;e attention.

Switzerland has the ad;antage of* metaphorically* eing somewhat like the friendly dog that does

not other anyone and thus noody others it in return.
http://www.bukisa.com/articles/314107_why-people-use-swiss-bank-accountshttp://www.bukisa.com/articles/314107_why-people-use-swiss-bank-accountshttp://www.bukisa.com/articles/314107_why-people-use-swiss-bank-accounts

swiss banks sb

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