Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Switzerland shares details of 3.1 million bank accounts held by foreigners

UBS
Data held by around 7,500 Swiss financial institutions like banks, trusts, and insurers were used to compile the information. © Keystone / Alessandro Della Valle

In its second-ever data sharing exercise as part of a global automatic exchange of information (AEOI) treaty, Switzerland shared financial account information with 63 partner countries.  

On Monday, the Swiss Federal Tax Authority revealed that it had provided details of around 3.1 million bank accounts held by foreigners (or those with a fiscal residence abroad) to their countries of their origin or residence. In return, it received information on banking details of around 2.4 million accounts held by Swiss citizens/residents in 75 partner countriesExternal link.  

The largest exchange of data (in both directions) was with Germany, the same as in 2018. The automatic exchange deal became effective in 2017 and the first exchange of data took place the following year.  

This time Switzerland received financial data from 75 countries but only reciprocated with 63. This is because 12 did not either meet data security and confidentiality requirements (Belize, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Curaçao, Montserrat, Romania, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Cyprus) or chose not to receive Swiss data (Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands). 

Swiss authorities expect that Switzerland’s network of AEOI countries will be expanded to 90 next year. 

More


Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR