Swiss banks do hold socalled numbered accounts, but a restricted circle of persons within the bank must - by law - know the name of the person(s), i.e. the beneficial owner(s) behind every account. In this regard, the “know your customer rule” is once again essential. Banking secrecy is routinely lifted in the case of criminal investigations and the Swiss judicial authorities have earned high marks for the extent of their cooperation in international criminal affairs, including those involving politically exposed persons. These facts do not mean that our country is especially attractive for criminal money. They rather show that bank secrecy rules are not an obstacle to an efficient and determined action against criminal activities. Let us be frank: the fact that some financial centres only rarely or even never register cases of suspicious transactions is certainly not a proof of integrity but rather of a lack of it. Conclusion Today, we find many financial centres around the globe. They all benefit from easier communication and high capital mobility. Some have a long history of banking activities, others have recently expanded, often by giving foreign investors special legal or fiscal treatment. With its customers from all over the world, Switzerland is as much an offshore centre as London or any other significant financial centre. We do not provide special advantages to foreign investors.
In our view, the responsibility of the banker should prevail over an automatic reporting of transactions exceeding a certain amount. Tracking down criminal money is even more difficult than identifying money laundering operations. The financing of criminal activities does not require large amounts and the ex ante identity of a criminal is not a source of pertinent information. Furthermore, funds used in the financing of terrorism, unlike cases of money laundering, very often are legally acquired. It is therefore crucial that financial intermediaries in both the banking and the non-banking sectors thoroughly verify their client relationships in order to identify suspicious circumstances. In this connection, strict observation of the “know-your-customer” principle is again of key importance. Switzerland does not hesitate to offer international co-operation in judicial matters and to block incriminated assets. Following the decision of the United Nations to apply sanctions against the Taliban regime in 1999 and 2000, we blocked a certain number of Afghan bank accounts and froze the assets belonging to persons listed by the Sanction Committee of the United Nations. To date, 76 accounts are frozen with a total of 42 million Swiss francs. In the United Kingdom and in Switzerland, the authorities and the banks themselves are fully aware of the utmost importance of successfully warding off criminal funds. We all realise that money laundering is not only morally unacceptable, but that it also clearly undermines the public’s confidence in our financial centre.