Ankur Poddar, Swati Aggarwal and Peeyush Razdan, “The future of bank secrecy and Switzerland” (11 August 2009). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1460713
Abstract:
The paper discusses the future of bank secrecy in light of the recent developments in Switzerland. It discusses the dependence of the offshore banking industry on secrecy and the impact of bank secrecy on Swiss banking. The paper creates three distinct scenarios for Swiss banking secrecy: status-quo, partial dilution and complete removal. The possibility and the impact of these scenarios on Switzerland are then elaborated. A small section deals with India’s tryst with Swiss banking and its secrecy.
CFR comment:
This student paper from business students at an Indian university includes an interesting discussion of bank secrecy debates in India, as well as a very basic overview of Swiss policy and three business scenarios for the impact of legal changes to Swiss secrecy laws. This overview is unfortunately based largely on websites. The business cases are competently done and clearly written. Of most interest is the paper’s claim that the debate over Swiss bank secrecy in India centres on the assertion that US$1.4tr of Indian funds were secreted in Switzerland. The paper argues that this has been based on a fictitious citation of a Swiss Banking Association report, which actually made no mention of funds from India. Unfortunately, the authors note that the US$1.4tr figure remains in common use in India. The authors note that the US$1.4tr figure represents 140% of Indian GDP, reason enough to question the claim.