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Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail Yahoo! Search Search: Sign InNew User? Sign Up News Home - Help Navigation Primary Navigation Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular Secondary Navigation Search Search: Swiss minister hints at 'concessions' on banking secrecy AFP - Sunday, March 1 GENEVA (AFP) - - Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz said Saturday that Switzerland might have to make some concessions on banking secrecy to avoid being placed on an international backlist. ADVERTISEMENT Merz launched a staunch defence of banking secrecy in a speech to the centre-right Radical Party (FDP). "We will not to abandon banking secrecy," Merz said. "The automatic exchange of information has to be rejected," he added, referring to a key demand of European critics who say that secrecy encourages tax evasion. But Merz accepted that some items might be a matter for discussion, according to remarks reported by the Swiss news agency ATS-SDA. "Maybe we will have to make concessions in one case or another," he said, without elaborating. The finance minister said that to avoid the risk of sanctions against Swiss banks, Switzerland should have something to offer in dialogue on the matter at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). In recent months, Switzerland has faced growing international criticism especially in the United States and in the European Union. British and German ministers have claimed secrecy encourages EU citizens to evade taxes by hiding their money in Swiss banks. German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck suggested last October that Switzerland should be placed on the OECD's list of uncooperative havens. The pressure was stepped up dramatically this month after the country's biggest bank, UBS, provided data on up to 300 clients to the US government and paid 780 million dollars to settle charges of aiding tax fraud. A day later, the US Justice Department filed a lawsuit to try to force UBS to disclose the identities of 52,000 US customers who allegedly evaded taxes, sparking a debate in Switzerland about the "end" of banking secrecy. Banking secrecy law prohibits Swiss banks from revealing information to domestic or foreign authorities or any third parties about their clients, except in cases involving recognized criminal investigations. In Switzerland, only tax fraud is regarded as a crime, not tax evasion, a distinction that does not exist in most other major economies. A leading Swiss private banker, Ivan Pictet, warned in a newspaper interview this week that Switzerland's financial services industry, a pillar of the economy, "would shrink by up to half of its size" without banking secrecy. Email Story IM Story Printable View Blog This Recommend this article Average (1 vote) Sign in to recommend this article » Most Recommended Stories » Enlarge Photo Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz, pictured on February 19, 2009, said Saturday that Switzerland might have to make some concessions on banking secrecy to avoid being placed on an international backlist. Most Popular – Top Stories Viewed Supermodel Bundchen ties knot with football star Brady Volkswagen to cut all temporary staff RBS posts record British loss, offloads toxic assets US economy shrinks stunning 6.2 percent Mexico's Pemex declares 7 bln dollar loss View Complete List » Search: Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! Southeast Asia Pte Ltd. (Co. Reg. No. 199700735D). All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - Community - Intellectual Property Rights Policy - Help

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