Ethics and governance in the European Financial centers

The AP has reported that the Swiss government said Sunday it will not attend a U.S. Senate hearing on tax havens — an apparent protest against a U.S. lawsuit aimed at forcing banking giant UBS AG to hand over data on tens of thousands of American customers.
This behaviour reminds me of the OECD meeting in Paris last october that was boycotted by some countries: Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein and the USA of G.W. Bush.

I can see five simultaneous major risks for Luxembourg:

1. The subprimes, which still will hold surprises in the coming months as most auditors did not do their prudential duty
2. The banking secrecy called in question as the internal pressure is growing
3. The international fight against offshore jurisdictions as the Corporate Registration is a mess with dubious firms and dubious statutory auditors including auditors from the BVI, the Seychelles and other exotic jurisdictions
4. Madoff/UBS-Luxalpha as the Luxembourg authorities deceived.
5. The risk of Sanctions for violation of “Qualified Intermediary” in the USA as the American justice will not appreciate if American citizens' assets were hidden

The behaviors as well of the politicians as of the professionals are not worthy of stakes.

UBS is under pressure: on the one hand the US authorities require banking information of UBS bank clients with sanctions if not provided and on the other hand a Swiss tribunal has just prohibited from providing such information.

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