UBS closing U.S. clients' offshore accounts

The Swiss bank UBS decided in July 08 to stop offering offshore accounts to U.S. citizens after it was targeted by a U.S. tax investigation which challenges Switzerland's famous banking secrecy laws, as it came under pressure from U.S. tax authorities.

U.S. prosecutors have alleged UBS helped clients hide $18 billion of untaxed American money in undeclared accounts. This amounts to around $300 million of annual unpaid taxes.

UBS spokesman said the decision to close offshore accounts for U.S. domiciled clients was taken in November 2007. The bank started 08 to close cash accounts of U.S. clients holding less than 50,000 Swiss francs.

As part of the investigation, U.S. authorities indicted UBS's wealth management chief last year.
The DOJ is looking into whether a group of 19,000 UBS clients evaded U.S. tax-reporting requirements through Swiss bank accounts.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20090109/tbs-business-us-ubs-7318940.html


German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck has denounced Switzerland’s tax information sharing policies, claiming that Germany should be entitled to similar information exchange agreements as the US now holds with Liechtenstein.

The comment follows the conclusion of a tax information exchange agreement between Liechtenstein and the US on December 8, 2009 after years of negotiations.

Experts estimate that around EUR 300 bill is held in Swiss accounts by German taxpayers.

Steinbrueck is leading calls from a group of OECD countries, including France, that Switzerland should be placed on some sort of new "blacklist" of 'uncooperative' and 'secretive' financial jurisdictions, which are shouldering much of the blame for the meltdown in the global financial markets and subsequent economic downturn.
http://www.investorsoffshore.com/asp/story/storyinv.asp?storyname=34463

Conference on the future of capitalism

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, leading a two-day conference with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair on the future of capitalism.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the system "cannot continue as it is" and called for better-regulated financial markets.

A US Congressional Budget Office report estimates that the U.S. federal budget deficit will hit an unparalleled $1.2 trillion for the 2009 budget year — and that is before President-elect Barack Obama's sweeping stimulus package is calculated.

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said Thursday that Paris is planning to inject a second tranche of euro10.5 billion into some of the nation's largest banks in an effort to spur lending.

Sarkozy blamed financial speculators for encouraging a system fueled on debt. He called financial capitalism based on speculation "an immoral system" that has "perverted the logic of capitalism."
"It's a system where wealth goes to the wealthy, where work is devalued, where production is devalued, where entrepreneurial spirit is devalued," he said.
But no more: "In capitalism of the 21st century, there is room for the state," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090108/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_france_new_capitalism