The Swiss government said it has authorized a first group of banks to cooperate with US authorities to help settle a dispute over tax evasion.
“The [Swiss] Federal Council gave various banks authorization to cooperate,” the government in Bern said in a statement on its Web site on Friday, without disclosing the number or names of lenders.
Banks were “encouraged” to give “serious consideration to their participation in the program and to make their decisions in this regard in a timely manner,” it said.
Switzerland in August agreed to a draft plan with the US, ending more than two years of negotiations over US probes of at least a dozen banks, including Credit Suisse Group AG and Julius Baer Group Ltd, which allegedly helped Americans evade taxes. Under the agreement, banks not already under US investigation are able to disclose wrongdoing voluntarily and turn over account information on clients to avoid fines.
UBS AG, Switzerland’s largest bank, avoided prosecution by paying US$780 million in 2009, admitting it helped Americans evade taxes and handing over data on 4,500 accounts. Wegelin & Co, the oldest Swiss private bank, pleaded guilty in January and paid US$74 million. It has since closed its doors. Since 2009, the US has prosecuted 68 account holders and more than 30 banking professionals for offshore tax crimes.
Switzerland increased private cross-border financial assets to US$2.2 trillion last year, Boston Consulting Group said in a report in May. Total assets under management at Swiss banks increased by 320 billion Swiss francs (US$354 billion) to SF5.6 trillion last year, with the proportion of foreign assets unchanged at just over 50 percent, according to the Basel, Switzerland-based Swiss Bankers Association.
Swiss banks that seek to avoid prosecution for fostering tax evasion through secret accounts held by US clients face penalties of as much as 50 percent of the value of those assets under the plan announced in August. Credit Suisse and Julius Baer have both said they expect to pay a fine and hand over client information to resolve the probes.
Firms “that have to assume they have violated US law” have until the end of the year to notify US authorities that they wish to participate in the program, the government said.
“Banks must comply with applicable Swiss law, particularly data protection and employment law provisions, within the framework of their cooperation,’’ it said.
Ryanair, Transavia, Volotea and other low-cost airlines are feeling the financial pain from high jet fuel prices as a result of the Middle East war and are cutting flights. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has taken a huge chunk of oil supplies off the market, sending the price of jet fuel soaring and triggering fears of shortages that could force airlines to cancel flights. Airlines are not waiting for a lack of supplies to react. “Travel alert: Airlines are cutting thousands of flights right now,” Travel Therapy host Karen Schaler said in an Instagram reel this past weekend.
MANAGING RISKS: Taiwan has secured LNG sufficient to cover 95 percent of electricity demand for next month, UBS said, describing the government’s approach as proactive UBS Group AG has raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year to 8 percent, up from 6.9 percent previously, and said expansion could reach as high as 8.6 percent if external energy shocks are avoided. The upgrade reflects a stronger-than-expected first-quarter performance and sustained momentum in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven exports, which UBS said are providing a firm foundation for growth despite geopolitical and energy risks. Taiwan’s GDP expanded 13.69 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, the fastest growth since the second quarter of 1987, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported on Thursday. On a seasonally
The list of Asian stocks that benefit from business partnership with Nvidia Corp is getting longer, as the region further integrates into the artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant’s business ecosystem. Just in the past week, South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc, Taiwan’s Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), as well as China’s Huizhou Desay SV Automotive Co (德賽西威) and Pateo Connect Technology Shanghai Corp (博泰車聯) have become the latest to rally on news of tie-ups, supply-chain participation or product collaboration with the US chip designer. Asian suppliers account for about 90 percent of Nvidia’s production costs, up from about 65 percent last year, data compiled
The Fair Trade Commission’s (FTC) ongoing review of Grab Holdings Ltd’s US$600 million acquisition of Foodpanda Taiwan’s operations, announced on March 23, has taken on fresh urgency as industry experts warn that the transaction could embed significant Chinese cybersecurity vulnerabilities into Taiwan’s digital infrastructure through Grab’s deep ties to autonomous-driving firm WeRide (文遠知行). Less than 16 months after the FTC blocked Uber Eats’ direct attempt to acquire Foodpanda Taiwan — citing potential combined market shares of 80 to 90 percent — the emergence of Grab as the buyer has prompted questions about whether the same competitive harm is simply being rerouted
RSS