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Interesting article:-
http://sovereignsociety.com/2010/02/...crashing-down/
I know that the strength of the Franc is causing a lot of headaches in Switzerland as much of their economy is based on engineering and trade is Europe centred. A lot of people wrote of the Franc because of the UBS/secrecy law crises and also because many Eastern European morgages are Franc based. I will be interested to see how the Franc fares.
Sovereign: Switzerland Sees new inflows as Greece comes Crashing Down
Bob Bauman (February 18, 2010)
It wasn’t a day of chocolates and flowers.
Instead, the finance ministers of Europe’s leading offshore financial and wealth management centers spent Valentine’s Day locked up in the heavily guarded Castle of Senningen in Luxembourg.
They were there trying to forge a common response to the continuing attacks from their tax hungry neighbors, France, Germany and Italy, to drop what remains of their bank secrecy and financial privacy laws.
My prediction: those financial privacy laws will remain, no matter how loud the world’s leftist big spenders howl.
Attendees included Switzerland and Liechtenstein, both non-EU states, as well as Luxembourg and Austria, the two European Union states that still have bank secrecy laws.
All of them are being pressured, in spite of agreeing last year to abide by the tax information exchange rules (Article 26) set by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the G-20 leading industrial nations, most of which are running huge deficits.
In the last two years UBS has lost billions in deposits, as American and other clients abandoned the bank that had abandoned them. Tax amnesties also have taken a toll, especially the latest Italian amnesty, which has so far repatriated around $100 billion and runs until April.
Some news reports claim that more than US$500 billion has left offshore accounts in Europe in the past two years as the wealthy repatriated funds in the face of a crackdown on tax havens and tougher economic conditions.
But lo and behold, last week a reverse trend of cash pouring into Switzerland was reported. The major debt problems of Greece, Spain and other EU countries have put increased pressure on the euro and investors are once again rediscovering the allure of Switzerland’s brisk Alpine air and quiet bank vaults.
Money seems to be flowing again into the country regardless of the “tax haven” issue, reinforcing Switzerland’s historic reputation as a financial safe haven. So much so, that the Swiss National Bank is suspected of having intervened several times in recent weeks to prevent the Swiss currency from appreciating too much against the euro.
In spite of all its troubles, Switzerland’s solid financial reputation has survived and that explains why this nation still serves as “banker to the world.”
In past times of crisis, even greater flows of foreign cash entered Swiss banks. The same is happening now — confirming the belief that Switzerland is one of the best places in the world to safeguard cash and assets.
http://sovereignsociety.com/2010/02/...crashing-down/
I know that the strength of the Franc is causing a lot of headaches in Switzerland as much of their economy is based on engineering and trade is Europe centred. A lot of people wrote of the Franc because of the UBS/secrecy law crises and also because many Eastern European morgages are Franc based. I will be interested to see how the Franc fares.
Sovereign: Switzerland Sees new inflows as Greece comes Crashing Down
Bob Bauman (February 18, 2010)
It wasn’t a day of chocolates and flowers.
Instead, the finance ministers of Europe’s leading offshore financial and wealth management centers spent Valentine’s Day locked up in the heavily guarded Castle of Senningen in Luxembourg.
They were there trying to forge a common response to the continuing attacks from their tax hungry neighbors, France, Germany and Italy, to drop what remains of their bank secrecy and financial privacy laws.
My prediction: those financial privacy laws will remain, no matter how loud the world’s leftist big spenders howl.
Attendees included Switzerland and Liechtenstein, both non-EU states, as well as Luxembourg and Austria, the two European Union states that still have bank secrecy laws.
All of them are being pressured, in spite of agreeing last year to abide by the tax information exchange rules (Article 26) set by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the G-20 leading industrial nations, most of which are running huge deficits.
In the last two years UBS has lost billions in deposits, as American and other clients abandoned the bank that had abandoned them. Tax amnesties also have taken a toll, especially the latest Italian amnesty, which has so far repatriated around $100 billion and runs until April.
Some news reports claim that more than US$500 billion has left offshore accounts in Europe in the past two years as the wealthy repatriated funds in the face of a crackdown on tax havens and tougher economic conditions.
But lo and behold, last week a reverse trend of cash pouring into Switzerland was reported. The major debt problems of Greece, Spain and other EU countries have put increased pressure on the euro and investors are once again rediscovering the allure of Switzerland’s brisk Alpine air and quiet bank vaults.
Money seems to be flowing again into the country regardless of the “tax haven” issue, reinforcing Switzerland’s historic reputation as a financial safe haven. So much so, that the Swiss National Bank is suspected of having intervened several times in recent weeks to prevent the Swiss currency from appreciating too much against the euro.
In spite of all its troubles, Switzerland’s solid financial reputation has survived and that explains why this nation still serves as “banker to the world.”
In past times of crisis, even greater flows of foreign cash entered Swiss banks. The same is happening now — confirming the belief that Switzerland is one of the best places in the world to safeguard cash and assets.
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