Banking Secrecy Is Here to Stay: Buy Swiss Banks

The Cayman Islands, known as a haven for wealthy Americans seeking to stash cash overseas without scrutiny from the U.S. government, is about to become less secret. An agreement between the countries will put in place the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or Fatca. The 2010 law makes it tougher to hide money overseas because foreign banks must report their accounts to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service or face, in some cases, a 30% withholding tax.

    The world will soon be facing a tsunami of defaults on bad debts. This will include municipal or local government defaults such as the one now occurring in Stockton California, governments “defaulting” on promises they’ve made to the people (Social Security, Medicaid), a default on the social contract between society and politicians such as the one in Cyprus (a default on the notions of private property and Democracy), stealth defaults on debts in the form of inflation and finally, of course, outright sovereign defaults.

Secret Swiss bank accounts are infamous in the public eye, largely thanks to James Bond movies, and for getting a number of the world’s biggest lenders into hot water.

Secret Swiss bank accounts are infamous in the public eye, largely thanks to James Bond movies, and for getting a number of the world’s biggest lenders into hot water.

Switzerland’s second largest bank, Credit Suisse, has been accused of helping U.S. customers evade billions of dollars in taxes. A Senate report released on Tuesday details how Swiss banks, including Credit Suisse, allegedly used cloak-and-dagger practices to aid and abet tax evasion by their U.S. customers. The report follows a two-year investigation by the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. According to the report, more than 22,000 U.S. customers held accounts with the Swiss bank, with assets totaling $13.5 billion (12 billion Swiss Francs) at their peak.

By Katharina Bart

MIAMI (Reuters) - A former high-ranking UBS banker charged with helping Americans dodge taxes through secret Swiss bank accounts is expected to plead not guilty on Tuesday to tax fraud conspiracy in federal court in Florida.

ZURICH (Reuters) - The Swiss government agreed on Wednesday to create a legal basis that will allow its banks to settle investigations by U.S. authorities into their role in helping wealthy Americans evade billions of dollars in tax.