Swiss Bankers Association welcomes Swiss government’s financial market strategy paper – Strategic goals identical with those of the banking sector – Abolition of stamp duty necessary

The Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) welcomes the financial centre strategy passed by the Federal Council. The strategy outlined in the report overlaps with the forward strategy laid out by the SBA, the objective of which is to strengthen the national and international competitiveness of the financial centre in order to maintain the financial sector as a growth industry and pillar of the Swiss economy. The SBA is particularly pleased that its proposal for a flat rate tax model for foreign countries is being adopted as it could serve as a bridge to tax honesty for foreign bank clients.
The SBA welcomes the fact that the Federal Council shares the same objectives of the SBA’s own forward-looking strategy which is based on the following four pillars:
a) Guaranteeing the protection of privacy for bank clients and avoiding a system of automatic information exchange.
b) Regularising the status of existing accounts with respect to the tax authorities of a client’s home country without an obligation to repatriate the funds.
c) Ensuring more complete taxation of capital income by introducing a flat rate tax and thereby supporting the interests of foreign countries with regard to the implementation of their tax legislation.
d) Improving market access for financial services offered from Switzerland.
The SBA is pleased that ensuring non-discriminatory market access in particular has top priority for the Federal Council and it welcomes the various initiatives to achieve this. By adopting the OECD standards, which extend administrative assistance to cover individual cases of tax evasion, Switzerland is complying with the global standards governing co-operation in tax matters. In addition, the creation of a State Secretariat for International Financial Issues lays the institutional foundations for a better representation of Switzerland’s interests abroad.

The SBA expects that general domestic conditions will be shaped in a way that enables the financial centre to make the best use of its strengths. The heterogeneity of the Swiss banking sector must be accommodated and this unique locational advantage must be preserved through targeted measures. With this in mind, the SBA places special emphasis on the necessity to gradually phase out stamp duty because at present it represents a significant locational disadvantage for the financial sector.
(c) SBA
Useful links:
Swiss Bankers Association (SBA)
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

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