Word: bankes
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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After months of behind-the-scenes wrangling that threatened to strain relations between Switzerland and the U.S., the fate of secret Swiss bank accounts reportedly holding billions of dollars in undeclared assets is finally resolved...
...Under an agreement announced by Swiss and U.S. authorities on Aug. 19, Switzerland's second largest bank, UBS, will disclose the names of approximately 4,450 American account holders suspected by the IRS of evading taxes. In return, the U.S. Justice Department will withdraw its lawsuit against the banking giant and stop demanding the names of 52,000 Americans accused of hiding assets in offshore accounts. (See pictures of tea-party tax protests...
...Citing the bank-client confidentiality that is guaranteed by the Swiss constitution, the Swiss government had forbidden UBS from complying with the Justice Department's demands and had threatened to seize UBS data to prevent the bank from handing accounts over to the Americans. Earlier this year, UBS had already released to the IRS the names of 250 suspected tax cheats and paid the U.S. government $780 million to avoid criminal prosecution for helping wealthy Americans hide $20 billion in undisclosed offshore accounts...
...hefty fine, there is a determination to restore investor confidence. "We will comply with every law in every country where we operate," spokesman Serge Steiner told TIME. "And we are committed to winning back clients' trust by being profitable and providing excellent service." (Read "The Scandal of Secret Swiss Bank Accounts...
...Swiss government, which yesterday put its 332.2 million UBS shares, valued at $5.6 billion, up for sale - a sign, market analysts say, that the government's trust in the bank's ability to raise capital has been restored - also expressed its satisfaction with the settlement. "We have managed to avoid a conflict between the sovereignty of two states," Swiss Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf told the press, while Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz urged the country's banks to respect the law. "It's the least they can do," he said...