Why do many rich people keep their money in Swiss banks? Why do some people say it is the safest bank in the world?

Let me reveal the secret of Swiss bank: why is it a safe haven for corrupt officials? It's time to poke

Editor's note: Switzerland will automatically hand over the details of foreigners' accounts to other countries, which means that Switzerland's $2.2 trillion private accounts will be completely exposed. Why are Swiss banks so popular? How do they keep a secret?

According to the British "Financial Times" reported on the 7th, Switzerland, the world's largest offshore financial center, promised to automatically hand over the account details of foreigners to other countries. This is a great progress for governments all over the world. After the global financial crisis and a series of tax scandals, they launched a joint action to crack down on tax evasion. If you want to "pry open" the taxpayer's secret account, Swiss cooperation is crucial.

For hundreds of years, Swiss banks have been famous for their strict bank secrecy system. Up to now, Swiss banks' deposits have accounted for13 of the world's total savings, and Swiss banks manage $2.2 trillion in offshore assets. At the same time, many people use this law to exploit loopholes, or evade taxes, or even transfer and hide illegal assets.

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Switzerland-a paradise in Europe

During World War II, due to its special neutral status, Switzerland became the main place for gold trading in Nazi Germany and other countries. Countries bought and sold gold from the Swiss central bank in exchange for hard currency Swiss francs.

It is said that at that time, 90% of the gold transactions of Nazi German Imperial Bank were conducted through Swiss National Bank.

/kloc-in the 6th century, with the rise of Christian Calvinism, a large number of persecuted Protestants fled from France and Italy to Geneva, Switzerland. These Protestants also brought a lot of money to the bankers in Geneva.

1933, the german government asked german citizens to account for their foreign assets.

In Switzerland, the Nazi Gestapo, who was in charge of tracing German citizens' property abroad, pretended to be an ordinary customer, went straight into the bank, took out a stack of money and ordered the bank staff to deposit the money in an account (all suspected of being Nazis). If the money can be deposited, it means that this person has an account in a Swiss bank. However, those who used anonymous accounts escaped the robbery safely. Within a year, three Germans were executed for having bank accounts in Switzerland. Three lives give Switzerland every reason to strengthen the bank secrecy law.

1934, the Swiss authorities promulgated the federal banking law, in which Article 47 clearly stipulates: 1. Any bank employee, including employees, agents, liquidators, members of the banking committee, supervisors and personnel of statutory audit institutions, must strictly abide by the principle of confidentiality and keep confidential the transaction information with customers and the property status of customers. The above-mentioned personnel, including the third person who lures the bank staff to disclose the customer and bank information, will face at least six months to five years' imprisonment and a maximum fine of 50,000 francs. 2. If the information of customers and banks is leaked due to negligence, it will be punished as appropriate, and the fine shall not exceed 30,000 francs. 3. The confidentiality agreement is valid for life. It is not invalid because of the resignation, retirement and dismissal of bank employees.

So Switzerland has become a paradise in Europe, and rich people in Europe are willing to put their gold and silver treasures in this place.

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Adhering to the tradition of confidentiality, it is trusted by the whole world.

In order to strengthen confidentiality, Swiss banks generally adopt password accounts, alias codes and other management methods, that is, depositors only write their real names when making the first deposit, and then code the accounts. In order to keep depositors strictly confidential, there are 1 16 banks in Zurich and Geneva specializing in secret storage business-not counting the private storage windows set up by major banks. In these banks, photos are not allowed and names are not revealed. Some banks don't even have signs, only the name of the manager. Moreover, the staff who handle personal secret accounts should be absolutely reliable, most of whom are inherited from their parents and passed down from generation to generation, and have received good vocational education through apprenticeship.

For a long time, Switzerland has adhered to the tradition of bank secrecy, won the trust of customers all over the world, and become a global offshore financial center and a "tax haven" for foreigners.

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50% of global funds transit in "tax havens"

In addition to Switzerland, there are 43 tax havens such as Liechtenstein, Austria, Luxembourg, Andorra, Monaco, Bermuda, Bahamas and British Virgin Islands, and 50% of the world's funds transit through these tax havens.

Among them, among all the tax havens in the world that can freely register companies, the Virgin Islands has the lowest requirements and the least supervision. There, the minimum registration fee for setting up a company with a registered capital of less than $50,000 is only $300, plus the license fee and handling fee, the local government always charges $980, and then only needs to pay the business license renewal fee of $600 every year.

In the process of cooperation with world financial institutions, Monaco, Liechtenstein and Andorra are called uncooperative tax havens because of the slow progress in information exchange.

Among the "tax haven" countries, European financial institutions prefer British Jersey because the legal system here is relatively loose.

Bermuda is considered to be one of the best places to handle insurance and reinsurance business, and also one of the best places to manage family businesses.

At present, there are hundreds of banks and thousands of registered companies in Panama, Central America, because companies can register here quickly, eliminating the concern of business owners that their actions are not in line with international law.

The secrecy system of Swiss banks has long been controversial.

For example, Swiss banks absorbed unknown funds from former Argentine President Menem and former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, as well as in "9? After the "1 1" incident, accounts opened by several terrorist suspects were found in Swiss banks.

In 2000, Switzerland conducted a public opinion survey. 13 people think that the Swiss bank secrecy system only provides benefits for the rich and profiteers, and 10% people want to abolish it completely. They think that tax evasion is not a simple financial problem, but a serious crime.

The United States and some European countries have long been dissatisfied with Switzerland and other "tax haven" countries to attract their tax avoidance customers, but it is difficult to find a solution. The financial crisis that began in 2008 made Swiss banks more openly cover up the tax evasion of the rich. The United States and Europe began to put pressure on Switzerland to ensure tax revenue.

The United States first sued UBS Group AG, the largest Swiss bank, on the grounds that it helped wealthy Americans evade taxes. UBS not only paid a huge fine, but also provided a list of more than 250 customers for the first time. Subsequently, France and Germany threatened to include Switzerland in the "blacklist" established by the OECD, in order to ask Switzerland to provide more bank information.

Countries remain resolute. On Tuesday, at the ministerial meeting held in Paris, France, Switzerland agreed to sign a new "global standard for automatic information exchange", which means that Switzerland has ended its century-old tradition of protecting the privacy of private bank accounts, and it also means that Switzerland's $2.2 trillion private accounts will be fully exposed. On a global scale, this will be a key step to crack down on tax evasion by multinational companies after the financial crisis.

In addition to Switzerland, 44 other countries have signed this agreement, including other OECD countries, major G20 countries and offshore financial centers such as Cayman Islands.

In this context, other world-renowned offshore financial centers that have not signed the agreement will face pressure. The G20 has begun to take sanctions against countries that refuse to disclose information, and the OECD will publish a blacklist of countries that refuse to make bank accounts transparent later this year.