Swiss Support For Banking Secrecy Increases

Contributing Editor

11 March 2005

Bank-client confidentially continues to be supported by the majority of the Swiss, according to a Swiss Bankers Association survey. As many as 78 per cent of those polled believe client confidentially should be continued, which is up from 76 per cent in 2004. And around 74 per cent say bank-client confidentiality should not be give up because of international pressure, compared with 72 per cent in last year’s survey. The hardening of opinion towards banking secrecy was difficult to explain, the SBA said. “It's difficult to work out any theory on this, except we notice that there's nothing like external pressure to make the Swiss close ranks,” James Nason, a spokesman for the SBA, told WealthBriefing. This figure attains greater significance considering the survey’s finding that 77 per cent of those questioned believe Switzerland will continue to come under strong international pressure. The SBA said: “The conclusion is that the principle of financial privacy is strongly anchored amongst the Swiss and it must not be given up thoughtlessly. The Swiss attach great importance to the protection of privacy in general.” As many as 91 per cent of those polled say that information about a bank client’s financial affairs must be protected vis-à-vis third parties, compared with 88 per cent in 2004. “The results of the survey are not at all surprising to me, and actually confirm my belief that Switzerland will be in a position to offer private banking clients confidentiality for many years to come,” Philip Marcovici, a senior partner for law firm Baker & McKenzie in Zurich, told WealthBriefing. He added: “I also believe that bank secrecy is very important to families, but that secrecy is often misunderstood - the need for privacy in many cases has little to do with tax issues, but more to do with family issues and, increasingly, risk and security issues in the country of residence.” The survey also found that the Swiss are generally very positive towards their banking system, with 79 per cent of those polled having a “positive” or “very positive” opinion of their bank. “The positive results of this year’s survey confirm with a high degree of constancy the good image the banking industry enjoys amongst the Swiss people,” said the SBA in a statement.