In a surprising move, the finance minister of Switzerland has put her support in the exchange of bank client data with foreign tax agencies under specific conditions and instances. This June, the Swiss government will commence debates on the matter as reported in a newspaper interview.
The Swiss banking secrecy policy has been under fire as of late, specifically from France, Germany and the United States since the financial crisis. In 2009, Switzerland had agreed to share more information upon request by foreign tax authorities in order to hunt down on tax evaders but up until now has refused a system of automatic transfer of data.
According to Swiss Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf in an interview in Saturday's edition of the Swiss daily Tages-Anzeiger, "If you ask me what automatic exchange of information is realistic for me, then there would be two main requirements from a Swiss point of view."
The requirements would be that all global financial centers would have to exchange data on an equal basis. This exchange must extend to names related to financial vehicles such as trusts linked to offshore accounts.
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