Banking in Switzerland is characterised by stability, privacy and protection of clients' assets and information. The country's tradition of
bank secrecyBank secrecy is a legal principle under which banks are allowed to protect personal information about their customers, through the use of numbered bank accounts or otherwise...
, which dates to the
Middle AgesThe Middle Ages of European history is a period of European history covering roughly a millennium in the 5th century through 16th centuries. More specific starting and ending points are sometimes adopted by scholars to suit their respective specializations or current focus...
, was first codified in a 1934 law. All
bankA bank is a financial institution licensed by a government. Its primary activities include borrowing and lending money.Many other financial activities were allowed over time. For example banks are important players in financial markets and offer financial services such as investment funds...
s in
SwitzerlandSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
are regulated by Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), which derives its authority from a series of federal statutes.
, the banking industry in Switzerland has an average leverage ratio (assets/networth) of 29 to 1, while the industry's short-term liabilities are equal to 260% of the Swiss GDP or 1,273% of the Swiss national debt.
Overview
Switzerland is a prosperous nation with a
gross domestic product (GDP) higher than that of some larger western European nations. In addition, the value of the
Swiss francThe franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein; it is also legal tender in the Italian exclave Campione d'Italia. Although not formally legal tender in the German exclave Büsingen , it is widely used on a day-to-day basis...
(CHF) has been relatively stable compared to that of other
currenciesFiat money is money declared by a government to be legal tender. The term derives from the Latin fiat, meaning "let it be done". Fiat money achieves value because a government demands it in payment of taxes and says it should be used within the country as a "tender" to pay all debts...
. In 2003, the financial sector comprised an estimated 14% of Switzerland's GDP and employed approximately 180,000 people (110,000 of whom work in the banking sector); this represents about 5.6% of the total Swiss workforce.
Swiss
neutralityA neutral power in a particular war is a sovereign state which declares itself to be neutral towards the belligerents. A non-belligerent state does not need to be neutral. The rights and duties of a neutral power are defined in Sections 5 and 13 of the Hague Convention of 1907...
and national sovereignty, long recognized by foreign nations, have fostered a stable environment in which the banking sector was able to develop and thrive. Switzerland has maintained neutrality through both
World WarA world war is a war affecting the majority of the world's most powerful and populous nations. World wars span several continents, and last for multiple years...
s, is not a member of the
European UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community...
, and was not even a member of the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
until 2002.
Currently an estimated one-third of all funds held outside the country of origin (sometimes called "
offshoreAn offshore bank is a bank located outside the country of residence of the depositor, typically in a low tax jurisdiction that provides financial and legal advantages. These advantages typically include:...
" funds) are kept in Switzerland. In 2001 Swiss banks managed
US$The United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States. The U.S. dollar is normally abbreviated as the dollar sign, $, or as USD or US$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies and from others that use the $ symbol. It is divided into 100 cents .The U.S...
2.6 trillion. The following year they handled US$400 billion less which has been attributed to both a bear market and stricter regulations on Swiss banking. By 2007 this figure has risen to roughly 6.7 trillion Swiss francs (US$5.7 trillion).
The Bank of International Settlements, an organization that facilitates cooperation among the world's
central bankA central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is a banking institution granted the exclusive privilege to a lend a government its currency...
s, is headquartered in the city of
BaselBasel is Switzerland's third most populous city . With 830000 inhabitants in the tri-national metropolitan area , Basel is Switzerland's second-largest urban area....
. Founded in 1930, the BIS chose to locate in Switzerland because of the country's neutrality, which was important to an organization founded by countries that had been on both sides of
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
.
Foreign banks operating in Switzerland manage 870 billion Swiss francs worth of assets .
Law and regulation
The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) is a public law institution that supervises most banking-related activities as well as securities markets and investment funds. Regulatory authority is derived from the Swiss Financial Market Supervision Act (FINMASA) and Article 98 of the Swiss Federal Constitution.
The office of the Swiss Banking
OmbudsmanAn ombudsman is a person who acts as a trusted intermediary between an organization and some internal or external constituency while representing the broad scope of constituent interests....
, founded in 1993, is sponsored by the Swiss Banking Ombudsman Foundation, which was established by the
Swiss Bankers AssociationThe Swiss Bankers Association is a professional organization of Swiss financial institutions.-Background:The trade association known as the Swiss Bankers Association was founded in 1912 in Basel, Switzerland. It is the primary industry group representing the Swiss Banks to the government of...
. The ombudsman's services, which are offered free of charge, include
mediationMediation, a form of alternative dispute resolution or "appropriate dispute resolution", aims to assist two disputants in reaching an agreement. The parties themselves determine the conditions of any settlements reached— rather than accepting something imposed by a third party...
and assistance to persons searching for dormant assets. The ombudsman handles about 1,500 complaints raised against banks yearly.
Banking law of 1934
The Swiss Parliament passed the Banking Law of 1934, which codified the rules of secrecy and criminalizes violation of it. The secrecy provisions were not included in the first draft of the law, which mainly concerned administrative matters such as bank supervision. The provisions, found in Article 47(b), were added before passage of the bill due to Nazi authorities' attempts to investigate the assets of Jews and "
enemies of the stateAn enemy of the state is a person accused of certain crimes against the state, such as treason. Describing individuals in this way is sometimes a manifestation of political repression. For example, an authoritarian regime may purport to maintain national security by describing social or political...
" held in Switzerland.
Electronic payments
Swiss banks, as well as the
post officeSwiss Post is the postal service of Switzerland. A public company owned by the Swiss Confederation, it is the country's second largest employer.-External links:* -Notes:...
(which handles some
financial transactionsMany nations' post offices operated, or continue to operate postal savings systems, to provide depositors who did not have access to banks a safe, convenient method to save money and to promote saving among the poor.-Great Britain:...
) use an electronic payments system known as Swiss Interbank Clearing (SIC). The system is supervised by the Swiss National Bank and is operated via a joint venture. SIC handled over 250 million transactions in 2005, with a turnover value of 41 trillion Swiss francs.
Major banks
As of 2006, there are 408 authorized banks and securities dealers in Switzerland, ranging from the "Two Big Banks" down to small banks serving the needs of a single community or a few special clients.
UBS AGUBS AG is a diversified global financial services company, with its main headquarters in Basel and Zürich, Switzerland. It is the world's largest manager of private wealth assets, "the world's biggest manager of other people's money" and is also the second-largest bank in Europe, by both market...
and
Credit SuisseThe Credit Suisse Group is a financial services company, headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. Credit Suisse was founded by Alfred Escher in 1856 under the name Schweizerische Kreditanstalt . The bank is organized into three divisions, Investment Banking, Private Banking, and Asset Management...
are respectively the largest and second largest Swiss banks and account for over 50% of all deposits in Switzerland; each has extensive branch networks throughout the country and most international centres.
Due to their size and complexity, UBS and Credit Suisse are subject to an extra degree of supervision from the Federal Banking Commission.
UBS
UBS came into existence in June 1998, when
Union Bank of SwitzerlandUnion Bank of Switzerland was located in Switzerland. It merged with Swiss Bank Corporation in 1998, to become UBS AG.The company was formed in 1912 when the Bank in Winterthur merged with Toggenburger Bank...
, founded in 1862, and
Swiss Bank CorporationSwiss Bank Corporation is the name of a bank that existed between 1856 and 1998, when it merged with Union Bank of Switzerland to form UBS AG...
, founded in 1872, merged. Headquartered in
ZürichZürich or Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. The city is Switzerland's main commercial and cultural centre and sometimes called the Cultural Capital of Switzerland, the political capital of Switzerland being Berne...
and
BaselBasel is Switzerland's third most populous city . With 830000 inhabitants in the tri-national metropolitan area , Basel is Switzerland's second-largest urban area....
, it is Switzerland's largest bank. It maintains seven main offices around the world (four in the
United StatesThe economy of the United States is the largest national economy in the world in both nominal value and by purchasing power parity. Its nominal gross domestic product was estimated as $14.4 trillion in 2008, which is about three times that of the world's second largest economy, Japan Its GDP by...
and one each in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
,
Tokyo, officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and is located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū. The twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, each governed as a city, cover the area that was once the city of Tokyo in the eastern part of the prefecture, totaling over 8 million people....
, and
Hong KongHong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a highly autonomous territory of the People's Republic of China, facing Guangdong to the north and the South China Sea to the east, west and south...
) and branches on five continents.
, UBS had a net loss of CHF27.56 billion, a
market capitalizationMarket capitalization/capitalisation is a measurement of the size of a business enterprise equal to the share price times the number of shares outstanding of a public company...
of over CHF43 billion, and 77,783 employees.
UBS has used the slogan "You & Us" in their marketing communication. The slogan aims to highlight the firm's client-based approach. Source:
UBS branding
Credit Suisse
Credit Suisse is the second-largest Swiss bank. Based in Zürich, it was founded in 1856; its market capitalization is $95.2 billion, and the company has about 40,000 employees. Credit Suisse Group offers private banking, investment banking and asset management services. It acquired The First Boston Corporation in 1988 and merged with the
WinterthurAXA Winterthur Group is a multinational insurance company. The original company named Winterthur was founded in Winterthur, Switzerland, in 1875. Until June 2006, Winterthur was a Credit Suisse subsidiary. Now, Paris-based AXA Insurance has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase...
insurance company in 1997; the latter was sold to
AXAAXA is a French global insurance companies group headquartered in Paris. AXA is not the name of a single company but a group of companies independently organized and operated according to the regulations of many different countries....
in 2006.
Central Bank
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) serves as the country's
central bankA central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is a banking institution granted the exclusive privilege to a lend a government its currency...
. Founded by the Federal Act on the Swiss National Bank (16 January 1906), it began conducting business on 20 June 1907. Its shares are publicly traded, and are held by the
cantonsThe 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...
, cantonal banks, and individual investors; the federal government does not hold any shares. Although a central bank often has regulatory authority over the country's banking system, the SNB does not; regulation is solely the role of the Federal Banking Commission.
Private banks - Private bankers
The term
private bankPrivate banks are banks that are not incorporated. A private bank is owned by either an individual or a general partner with limited partner...
refers to a bank that offers
private bankingPrivate banking is a term for banking, investment and other financial services provided by banks to private individuals investing sizable assets. The term "private" refers to the customer service being rendered on a more personal basis than in mass-market retail banking, usually via dedicated bank...
services and in its legal form is a partnership. The first private banks were created in
St. GallenSt. Gallen is the capital of the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. It evolved from the hermitage of Saint Gall, founded in the 7th century. Today, it is a large urban agglomeration and represents the center of eastern Switzerland. The town mainly relies on services for its economic base.The...
in the mid 1700s and in Geneva in the late
1700s as partnerships, and some are still in the hands of the original families such as
HottingerHottinger or Hottinguer may refer to:*Baron Jean-Conrad Hottinguer *Baron Jean-Henri Hottinguer *Baron Rodolphe Hottinguer *Baron Henri Hottinguer *Baron Rodolphe Hottinguer...
and Mirabaud. In Switzerland, such private banks are called private bankers (a protected term) to distinguish them from the other private banks which are typically shared corporations.
Cantonal banks
There are, as of 2006, 24
cantonal bankCantonal banks are Swiss governmental-owned commercial banks, that use the canton that they are based in as guarantee for the assets held there. However, currently they are in process of being partially privatised...
s; these banks are state-guaranteed semi-governmental organizations controlled by one of
Switzerland's 26 cantonsThe 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...
that engage in all banking businesses. The largest cantonal bank, the Zürich Cantonal Bank, had a 2005 net income of CHF 810 million.
Banking privacy
Swiss bank secrecy does not protect private banking information; the protections afforded under Swiss law are similar to confidentiality protections between doctors and patients or lawyers and their clients. The Swiss government views the right to
privacyPrivacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively...
as a fundamental principle that should be protected by all democratic countries. While secrecy is protected, in practice all bank accounts are linked to an identified individual, and a prosecutor or judge may issue a "lifting order" in order to grant law enforcement access to information relevant to a criminal investigation.
Taxation
Swiss law distinguishes between
tax evasion (non-reporting of income) and
tax fraud (active deception). International legal assistance is only granted with respect to tax fraud. In domestic prosecutions, banking secrecy may be lifted by court order in cases of tax fraud or particularly severe cases of tax evasion.
European Union
Pressure on Switzerland has been applied by several states and international organizations attempting to alter the Swiss privacy policy. The
European UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community...
, whose member countries geographically surround Switzerland, has complained about member states' nationals using Swiss banks to avoid taxation in their home countries. The EU has long sought a harmonized tax regime among its member states, although many Swiss banking officials (and, according to some polls, the public) are resisting any such changes.
Since July 1, 2005, Switzerland has charged a
withholding taxThe so-called European Union withholding tax is a withholding tax which is deducted from interest earned by European Union residents on their investments made in another member state, by the state in which the investment is held....
on all interest earned in the personal Swiss accounts of European Union residents.
In 2001 and 2002, an
amnestyAmnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent persons. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the offense. The word has the same root as amnesia...
was offered by the government of Italy in which taxes and penalties on repatriated funds were limited on funds repatriated from Switzerland; 30 to 35 billion
euroThe euro is the official currency of 16 of the 27 Member States of the European Union . The states, known collectively as the Eurozone, are Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain...
s worth of deposits were returned to Italy. In 2003, a similar amnesty was approved by the government of Germany.
Switzerland is not a member of the European Union, is a part of the Shengen agreement since December 2008.
United States
Swiss bank accounts cannot be opened without the holder signing a legal document asserting that they have no outstanding financial obligations to the IRS. Despite this, Swiss banks have been criticized for improperly shielding individuals practicing tax evasion. Because only
tax fraud (actively lying to authorities) is a crime in Switzerland, while
tax evasion (passively neglecting to report income) is not, it is believed that many tax evaders have been able to take advantage of the Swiss privacy provisions.
In January 2003, the United States Department of Treasury announced a new information-sharing agreement under the already extant U.S.-Swiss Income Tax Convention; the agreement was intended to facilitate more effective tax information exchange between the two countries. However, Swiss policy has continued to come under international criticism, and in March 2009 Switzerland agreed to renegotiate more effective tax cooperation with the United States and other countries.
Money laundering
There are several measures in place to counter
money launderingMoney laundering is the process of creating the appearance that large amounts of money obtained from serious crimes, such as drug trafficking or terrorist activity, originated from a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions with varying definitions...
. The Money Laundering Act sets forth requirements of account holders' identification, and requires reporting of any suspicious transactions to the Money Laundering Reporting Office.
According to the CIA World Factbook, Switzerland is "a major international financial center vulnerable to the layering and integration stages of money laundering; despite significant legislation and reporting requirements, secrecy rules persist and nonresidents are permitted to conduct business through offshore entities and various intermediaries..." However, Switzerland's cooperation in transnational financial issues has been praised by several major U.S. officials. A
Federal Bureau of InvestigationThe Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency. The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
anti-terrorism official noted that Switzerland was one of several countries to participate in joint task forces targeting financing of
Al-QaedaAl-Qaeda , alternatively spelled al-Qaida and sometimes al-Qa'ida, is an Islamist group founded sometime between August 1988 and late 1989 and early 1990...
terrorist cells; a former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury praised Swiss cooperation and the country's assistance in the finding and freezing of terrorist and Iraqi assets.
Numbered bank accounts
Some bank accounts are afforded an extra degree of privacy. Information concerning such accounts, known as
numbered accountA numbered bank account is a normal bank account where the name of the bank client is replaced by a number or a code word. A numbered bank account is under no circumstances anonymous and differs in neither legal nor tax matters from a normal banking relationship...
s, is restricted to senior bank officers, rather than being accessible to all the employees of a bank. However, the information required to open such an account is no different from that of an ordinary account; completely anonymous accounts are not allowed by law. Should a criminal investigation take place, law enforcement has access to information related to a numbered account in the same way it has access to information about any other account.
Swiss Banks and World War II
Several inquiries have been made into the conduct of Swiss banks during the
Nazi GermanyNazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany between 1933 and 1945, while it was led by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party . The name Third Reich refers to the state as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages and the German...
period (1933–1945), especially regarding funds deposited by or stolen from victims of the Holocaust. The campaign causing the highest outlays ($1.25 billion in 1999) on the part of the Swiss banking industry as of 2009 was the
World Jewish Congress lawsuit against Swiss banksThe World Jewish Congress lawsuit against Swiss banks was launched to retrieve deposits made by victims of Nazi persecution during and prior to World War II.-Negotiations:...
launched by
Edgar BronfmanEdgar Bronfman may refer to:* Edgar Bronfman, Sr. , Canadian businessman and former long-time president of the World Jewish Congress* Edgar Bronfman, Jr. , CEO of the Warner Music Group...
, president of the
World Jewish CongressThe World Jewish Congress was founded in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1936 as an international federation of Jewish communities and organizations...
, in concert with US
Senator Alfonse d'AmatoAlfonse Marcello D'Amato is an American lawyer and former New York politician. A Republican, he served as United States Senator from New York from 1981 to 1999.-Early life and career:...
of New York.
In October 1996, as this campaign was underway, Swiss
ambassadorAn ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents their country. They are usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization, to serve as the official representative of their country....
to the United States Carlo Jagmetti admitted that some banks prevented Holocaust survivors from accessing their funds, although he disputed the amounts claimed in lawsuits by survivors.
Union Bank of SwitzerlandUnion Bank of Switzerland was located in Switzerland. It merged with Swiss Bank Corporation in 1998, to become UBS AG.The company was formed in 1912 when the Bank in Winterthur merged with Toggenburger Bank...
security guard
Christoph MeiliChristoph Meili is a Swiss whistleblower and Swiss-American security professional.In early 1997, Meili worked as a night guard at the Union Bank of Switzerland in Zurich, Switzerland...
became a prominent
whistleblowerA whistleblower is a person who alleges concealed misconduct on the part of an organization or body of people, usually from within that same organization. This misconduct may be classified in many ways; for example, a violation of a law, rule, regulation and/or a direct threat to public interest,...
when he removed Holocaust-era records from the bank and alleged that records of accounts of Holocaust victims were being destroyed (see main article on Meili).
In 1998, an international panel of historians released a study that claimed a significant amount of gold had been stolen from Holocaust victims, as well as the treasuries of conquered countries, and deposited in the Swiss National Bank. The panel found that, despite evidence of theft and wrongful acquisition of the gold, the SNB continued to accept the deposits. In 2000, Judge
Edward R. KormanJudge Edward R. Korman is a United States district judge serving on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. He was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on October 2, 1985, confirmed by the United States Senate on November 1, 1985, commissioned on November 4, 1985,...
of the
United States District Court for the Eastern District of New YorkThe United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York is the federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the entirety of Long Island and Staten Island. The court's territorial jurisdiction includes the Counties of Kings , Queens, Richmond , Nassau, and Suffolk...
approved a
US$The United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States. The U.S. dollar is normally abbreviated as the dollar sign, $, or as USD or US$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies and from others that use the $ symbol. It is divided into 100 cents .The U.S...
1.25 billion settlement between several Swiss banks and the plaintiffs, a group of Jewish organizations.
An estimated 50,000 accounts
[citation needed] in Switzerland were opened by victims during the Nazi era; some banks refused to make payments to victims' families because of the lack of
death certificateA death certificate, sometimes medical certificate of the cause of death , is a document issued by a government official such as a registrar of vital statistics that declares the date, location and cause of a person's death....
s. However, an article published on October 13, 2001 in
The TimesThe Times is a daily national newspaper published in the United Kingdom since 1785 when it was known as The Daily Universal Register....
of
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
reported that the tribunal entrusted with tracing Holocaust era accounts found that only 200 of the 5,570 abandoned foreign accounts in question, containing about $12 million, could be traced back to Holocaust victims; most of the abandoned accounts were owned by wealthy
gentileThe term Gentile refers to non-Israelite tribes or nations in English translations of the Bible, most notably the King James Version....
s, and half the accounts contained less than 1,000 francs.
International competition
With recent changes in the Swiss bank secrecy regime, other states, such as
SingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island city-state located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, lying north of the equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia's Riau Islands. At , Singapore is a microstate and the smallest nation in Southeast...
, have attracted depositors seeking privacy and protection. Having taken steps to make its banks more attractive, Singapore strengthened penalties for violators of bank secrecy (and now imposes steeper fines and longer jail sentences for offenders), and modified its laws on
trustsIn common law legal systems, a trust is an arrangement whereby property is managed by one person for the benefit of another. A trust is created by a settlor , who entrusts some or all of his property to people of his choice...
and inheritance. Singapore is also now the location of Credit Suisse's international banking headquarters.
See also
- List of Banks in Switzerland
- List of Swiss financial market legislation
- Offshore bank
An offshore bank is a bank located outside the country of residence of the depositor, typically in a low tax jurisdiction that provides financial and legal advantages. These advantages typically include:...
- Societe Internationale v. Rogers
Societe Internationale Pour Participations Industrielles Et Commerciales, S.A. v. Rogers, 357 U.S. 197 , was a case decided by the United States Supreme Court, in which the court considered whether a district court could dismiss a case based on the petitioner's failure to comply with the court's...
- Swiss franc
The franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein; it is also legal tender in the Italian exclave Campione d'Italia. Although not formally legal tender in the German exclave Büsingen , it is widely used on a day-to-day basis...
- World Jewish Congress lawsuit against Swiss Banks
The World Jewish Congress lawsuit against Swiss banks was launched to retrieve deposits made by victims of Nazi persecution during and prior to World War II.-Negotiations:...
External links
- The Swiss banking law, as amended, from KPMG
KPMG is one of the largest professional services firms in the world and one of the Big Four auditors, along with PricewaterhouseCoopers , Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and Ernst & Young . Its global headquarters are located in Amstelveen, Netherlands.KPMG employs over 136,500 people in a global network...