Swiss government to defend banking secrecy

26 February 2009

The Swiss government has cobbled together a task force to defend its legendary banking secrecy laws that have allowed wealthy US and European citizens to evade taxes in their home country and park their gains, often ill-gotten, in Swiss banjs, famed for their tradition of total client confidentiality.

The US and Europe have been mounting increasing pressure on the Swiss government to allow greater disclosure on the banking details of the Swiss bank clients.

With the US government trying to force Swiss bank UBS to reveal the identities of 52,000 Americans who have allegedly evaded taxes, Switzerland's finance minister Hans-Rudolf Merz has enlisted leading personalities from the country to defend the country's banking secrecy from pressure.

In a surprise move today UBS appointed a new group chief executive officer to battle the banks financial crisis as well as fight the lawsuit in the US.
Marcel Rohner, the present CEO has been replaced with immediate effect by Oswald Grübel, former head of the Credit Suisse.

Merz, told a news conference that he has enlisted justice minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, foreign minister Micheline Calmy-Rey Merz along with bankers, diplomats, economists and legal experts to come up with a strategy to protect banking the interests of the country from nations that threaten to undermine its banking secrecy laws.

The task force is also in response to increasing pressure from European leaders who have vowed to launch a global crusade against tax havens at the April G-20 summit in London, where US President Barack Obama, who had called UBS 'tax cheats', will also be present.