Bankers Outline Priorities For Swiss Financial Centre

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

18 January 2012

Vice-President of the Swiss Private Bankers Association (SPBA) Christoph Gloor has recently urged the Confederation’s federal administration and financial market supervisory authority FINMA to refocus their attentions on strengthening the competitiveness of the Swiss financial centre and on improving market access.

During a recent keynote address, Gloor assessed progress made in Switzerland since publication in December 2009 of the Federal Council’s “Graber report”, in which it outlined four strategic axes for future policy in Switzerland in terms of the financial centre.

Gloor cited a specific passage from the report, which emphasized that as a matter of priority the competitiveness of the Swiss financial centre must first be strengthened, then market access improved, and then, to guarantee the stability of Swiss financial institutions, efforts must be continued in the area of regulation. Finally, confidence in the financial centre and in its integrity must be strengthened.

According to Gloor, priority has not been, as recommended, given to two priority areas mentioned in the report, notably to competitiveness and to market access, but rather to the two rather "defensive axes", stability and integrity. Indeed, these last two axes have been “rigorously followed”, Gloor continued, noting that as a result Switzerland is now a model of integrity and paragon of stability. Efforts to strengthen competitiveness, vital to maintaining jobs and expertise in Switzerland, have been neglected, he added.

As regards competitiveness, Gloor insisted that the situation has not improved over the course of the last two years. Referring to the “Global Financial Centres Index”, published twice a year, Gloor noted that the financial centres of Zurich and Geneva were ranked sixth and ninth in the world respectively in September 2009, whereas two years later, they had been ranked in eight and thirteenth position respectively. Underscoring the seriousness of the situation, Gloor attributed this drop in position to the increase in power in Asian countries.

Gloor maintained that by applying international standards on tax information exchange, and indeed “more ambitious agreements” with various different European countries, Switzerland has once again renounced certain competitive advantages, thereby further weakening its position.

Gloor also lamented the recent decision to postpone abolition of stamp duty in Switzerland until 2018, warning that the taxes will merely continue to hinder the competitiveness of the Swiss financial centre.

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