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...Sundberg says that with the IRS intensifying its hunt for alleged tax evaders, Swiss banks, fearful of potential legal problems, are closing the accounts of resident Americans and refusing to open new ones. Both UBS and Switzerland's second largest bank, Credit Suisse, have told Americans to move their money into specially created units registered in the U.S., or lose their accounts. Many smaller Swiss banks are simply turning away Americans. (See pictures of the top 10 scared traders...
...long-term damage to UBS may be difficult to gauge, experts say its reputation as a reliable institution has taken a beating. "Clients worldwide have lost trust in UBS's ability to protect their privacy," says Teodoro Cocca, former professor of asset and wealth management at the Swiss Banking Institute in Zurich. "This will affect UBS's attraction for wealthy clients - the main franchise of the bank...
...others are confident that the damage will be limited to UBS. "We don't foresee any negative impact on the Swiss banking industry as a whole," says Martin Naville, CEO of the Zurich-based Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce, an organization that helps Swiss companies in the U.S. and U.S. companies in Switzerland expand their businesses. "It's the cleanest system in the world, with strict laws on money laundering, terrorist finances, corruption and other illicit activities." (Read "The Scandal of Secret Swiss Bank Accounts...
...future of Swiss banking secrecy, long a bone of contention among Switzerland, the U.S. and the European Union, also looks to come through this scandal unscathed. In a recent SBA poll, 91% of respondents favored the protection of their privacy in financial matters. "It's an expression of mutual trust between the Swiss state and its citizens," SBA's Nason says. "The government is able to secure its tax revenues without having to trample on privacy by demanding an automatic right of forced entry into bank accounts. The Swiss take great pride in this arrangement and reward it with...
...however, has warned Switzerland that if a deal is not reached in the UBS case, it will "vigorously pursue" the matter and may even seize the bank's American assets. But such an aggressive response "might destabilize UBS and have a major impact on the American economy, so the U.S. government should proceed at its own risk and peril," says the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce's Naville, who points out that both countries have "a lot at stake" in each other's economies. Switzerland is the U.S.'s 15th largest export market and, with almost $149 billion spent...