Swiss People's Party Calls For Constitutional Amendment To Protect Banking Secrecy

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

25 April 2002

The UDC, or People's Party in Switzerland has announced that it wants banking secrecy in the Alpine jurisdiction protected at a constitutional level.

Speaking at a press conference earlier this week, the right-wing party - one of the four in government - called for the European Union to 'keep its hands off banking secrecy', and announced the launch of a campaign to have financial privacy provisions enshrined in the Swiss constitution.

However, implementing a measure of this magnitude would almost certainly require a nationwide referendum, and given the government's desire to complete negotiations on a second set of bilateral treaties with the EU, such a boldly defiant move seems unlikely. However, the proposals are likely to gain the support of the Swiss banking community.

This follows reports that the majority of the Swiss cabinet is prepared to make some concession towards loosening secrecy provisions on indirect tax evasion in order to restart the stalled 'Bilaterals II' negotiations. According to an article in the NZZ am Sonntag at the weekend, Finance Minister Kasper Villiger is now the sole voice of opposition to compromise within the cabinet.

Swiss news service, Swissinfo, reported on Tuesday that the Swiss Bankers' Association had refused to comment specifically on the People's Party's announcement, but stated that it assumed that the government would stick to its original mandate of refusing to negotiate on banking secrecy.

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