Word: switzerland
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...Switzerland - the land of chocolate, watches and neutrality - isn't known for flexing its muscles in a heated standoff with another country. But now it finds itself pitted against the U.S. in a David and Goliath-style imbroglio that could damage diplomatic and economic relations between the two for years to come. On one side, the U.S. Department of Justice is accusing Swiss banking giant UBS of helping wealthy Americans hide billions of dollars from the tax man and insisting that the bank reveal their identities. On the other, the Swiss government is threatening to step in to protect...
...February, the Department of Justice filed a civil lawsuit against UBS seeking the identities of 52,000 more Americans suspected of stashing a total of $15 billion at the bank. This time, the Swiss were having none of it. Citing bank-client confidentiality guaranteed in the Swiss constitution, Switzerland's government has forbidden UBS from complying. It has also threatened to "take control of the data at UBS" to prevent the bank from handing the accounts over to the Americans...
...Swiss government is prepared to issue would be a first, but it's a reasonable step to take in light of the IRS's threatened disregard for international treaties and provisions of Swiss law," says James Nason, spokesman for the Swiss Banking Association (SBA), a trade group for Switzerland's financial institutions. (Read "The Swiss Question Their Once Proud Banks...
...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...
...world-famous brand can be a blessing and a curse. Ask Claude Nobs, founder and moving spirit behind the Montreux Jazz Festival, www.montreuxjazz.com, which will run for its 43rd season July 3-18 on Switzerland's Lake Geneva. Nobs, an energetic 73-year-old, was recently in London to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of his friend Chris Blackwell's Island Records, which brought everyone from Bob Marley to U2 to world prominence. Passing out leaflets for Montreux at a commemorative concert in London, Nobs says more than one hipster handed them back with the words, "Jazz? No thanks...