End of Swiss Banking Secrecy to Leave National Economy Unharmed - Envoy

The EU-Switzerland agreement on bank account data exchange, aimed at fighting tax evasion, will not damage the Swiss economy, Swiss Ambassador to Russia Pierre Helg told Sputnik.

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Yulia Shamporova – In late May 2015, the European Union and Switzerland inked a historic tax transparency deal that will put an end to Swiss banking secrecy for EU residents. The sides will start automatically sharing data on residents’ financial accounts, starting from 2018.

"In this area too, all countries involved need to apply the same principles and rules. If so, the new parameters of the banking secrecy will not harm the Swiss economy: the long and unquestioned Swiss banking expertise, as well as the Swiss political and economic stability is the foundation to the successful Swiss banking sector," Helg stressed.

The shared data will include names, addresses, tax identification numbers and dates of birth, as well as a range of other financial and account balance information, according to the European Commission’s May statement.

Bern is now negotiating a similar deal with the United States after coming under pressure from the US Department of Justice (DoJ) since the late 2000s. In 2009, the DoJ sued the Swiss-based banking firm UBS to obtain access to more than 50,000 accounts belonging to US clients suspected of tax evasion.