Ethics and governance in the European Financial centers

Richard Murphy recently observed that the Swiss Private Banker’s Association has looked at the consequences of making tax evasion a criminal offence in Switzerland (where it does not have that status at present) and has found that after asking someone they call a highly regarded expert on the subject - Professor Xavier Oberson, of Geneva University that the change would lead to an overall revision of Switzerland’s tax system.

Richard concluded that there will be those who will argue long and hard in Switzerland for retaining its corrupt ways, but it’s more likely many are now seeing the reality of their future, and are rapidly reconciling themselves to a world in which surviving of the wages of fraud looks like a cosy little number whose days were always going to be numbered.

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The PFP has reported that Switzerland's largest bank, UBS, has disclosed that the US Justice Department is investigating whether its bankers helped wealthy Americans evade paying income tax on their investments and that the Zurich-based bank said it was cooperating with both the Justice Department and the SEC.

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In 2007, the Money Laundering Reporting Office (MROS) received a total of 795 SARs (619 in 2006), which amounts to a 28.4 % increase over last year’s figure. It is also the third highest reporting volume observed since 1998, the year when MROS began gathering statistics on incoming SARs.

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Read annual report (dated April 2008)