Didnt bankers rule the world? All they need to do is shout and they get trillions of $ from congress and all of the sudden these banks have to follow rules and listen to the US government? I mean, the Swiss? Really? The UN has his headquarters in Switzerland, Bank for International Settlements is in Switzerland, 1/3 off all global wealth is managed in Switzerland. Now I don't wear no tinfoil hat but certainly it is clear we are talking about the intrests of a category of people that answer to no one... Masters of the Universe. Where does the bloody IRS get's their leverage from here... I wonder..
Something like 25% of the worlds private wealth is in Switzerland. Can you picture the economic Armageddon if a quarter of the worlds private wealth evaporated! http://www.swissbanking.org/en/20081223-300-bro-wealthmanagement2009-rva.pdf
This is fascinating. The UBS did release its list as you probably know: http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/banking/2009-02-22-swiss-senate-hearing_N.htm What I find so interesting is that our country is obviously in deep doo doo, technically speaking of course, and yet the Swiss are capitulating to our demands. The Swiss have historically been above all demands from any one government, even Hitler himself. But not this time. That shows desperation and when the Swiss are desperate, that's a bad sign! Trade accordingly...
I think it has more to do with thier large pressacnce here than desperation. There are other secretive banks in the world that have zero fear of the IRS, but they dont have huge offices here. They opened themselves up for this and now they have no way out. They leaned on one American executive and he gave up everything he knew, joined up and said what do you want to now. They take a few laptops and have tax evasion conspiracy. What happens when they walk into Connecticut offices? When they lean on those employees? They took down Capone for taxes, here they have charges on conspiracy to help other people evade taxes. Anyone with any knowledge is open for prosecution. If you are an American working in Connecticut are you going to mess around? Or will you give them any list they want? Swiss banks are some mystical thing to many, but lets get real here. They are hiding assets, the workers are conspiring to help hide assets. Fine... what can the IRS do to a bank in Switzerland? Nothing. What can they do to one in CT? Anything they want.
UBS´ issue with the IRS apply only to US tax evaders, there are plenty of tax evaders of other nationalities that bank there. Don´t think US clients make up a large percentage of their customer base
European G-20 Nations Seek Crackdown on Tax Havens http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=arqqvejukth4&refer=home
The knives are out. UBS will have no competitive advantage with the world and G-20 targeting tax havens. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=arqqvejukth4&refer=home European G-20 Nations Seek Crackdown on Tax Havens (Update1) Email | Print | A A A By Alan Crawford and Patrick Donahue Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) -- European leaders said they will crack down on tax havens as they seek to boost transparency and apply uniform rules governing financial markets to stem the global crisis. A seven-point plan agreed by European heads of state and government from the Group of 20 nations in Berlin today called for âsanctionsâ against âuncooperative jurisdictions.â âWe want to put a stop to tax havens,â French President Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters after the meeting. âWe want results on this, with a list of tax havens and a series of consequences.â At a full G-20 summit in London in April, âEurope wants to see an overhaul of the system,â he said. âA new system without sanctions would not have any meaning.â The G-20 groups the main industrialized and developing countries, including China, Brazil and India. .........................................
From what I learned, it is only small fractions of the entire list, about couple of hundreds out of almost 60k. Nevertheless, it is very serious matter which denatures UBS's reputation. Anyway, people have to realized that ubs has never been a serious Tax heaven for any illegal income. It is not the first time, UBS releases its client's account info and freeze questionable clients accounts.
FWIW, the U.S. is seeking, and UBS previously agreed, to provide the names and account information of 52,000 American 'private wealth' clients. That is a lot.
If they are heavily invested in Eastern Europe, then they may truly be desperate. Remember that they were one of the Euro banks to have subprime exposure, so they were "balls to the wall" as Euro banks come and go...