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Swiss Banking Confidentiality

Swiss Bank Account Costs

Swiss Banking Institutions

Why Swiss Offshore Banking?

Swiss Offshore Banking is one of the longest-standing and popular offshore financial centres in the world for one primary reason: privacy Because of the strong legislation in place since 1934 Switzerland banking has precedence and a sound history of being fiercely protective of its financial institutions and their clientele.

In certain cases, Swiss offshore banking can be established using a “Swiss numbered account“, which offers even greater security and privacy as a number is the identifier as opposed to a name. These types of Swiss accounts are offered only to a very small, select number of customers. In addition to the number, the account has a code name associated with it so as to avoid any confusion between Swiss banks and the client. This facility dramatically increases the privacy of the individual so, for example, if a bank statement were to be lost or stolen then the account holder’s name is not apparent.

A more modern and a much more satisfactory arrangement to ensure discretion and privacy is to establish an offshore company and then to setup a swiss bank account in the name of this overseas company. The added benefit of this type of swiss offshore bank account is that it can be opened far more quickly and easily than a Swiss numbered account and has the same security for offshore asset protection. Moreover, it gives additional privacy because any transfers of money into or out of the account are in the name of the offshore company instead of the customer.

As with the majority of offshore financial centres, Swiss Banking legislation recognises serious criminal acts, such as money-laundering and terrorism, and has legal provisions to be able to address such acts. A Swiss judge has to declare that an act is a criminal offence before any information about a Swiss bank account can be shared with a foreign government. Under Swiss Law, tax evasion is not considered to be a criminal offence. The reason for this is that Switzerland perceives that it is not considered to be criminal intent to fail to declare assets, as the chance for accidental failure of this system is extremely high. It is because of this that Tax Evasion is considered to be a civil offence, which means that no swiss offshore banking institution can divulge any information about offshore accounts to any foreign government or third party if this is the charge. Swiss banking legislation does not recognise the need to share privileged information in the case of minor offences, only criminal ones if sufficient evidence is produced of serious criminality. Even so, there are additional steps one can take to ensure maximum confidentiality and security, and The Offshore Company UK specialises in Swiss and other offshore business entities to ensure complete offshore asset protection and privacy.

As a responsible and ethical company, The Offshore Company UK recommends that one complies with the taxation legislation of the location or jurisdiction to which one is obligated.