Christian Aid, responding in August to the terms of the agreement ‘initialled’ by HMRC and the Swiss government, said the deal amounted to ‘collusion with criminality’. The agreement was signed yesterday.
‘Switzerland is the grandfather of the world’s tax havens,’ the Tax Justice Network said as it published its Financial Secrecy Index for 2011 earlier this week.
‘Staggering’ amounts of illicit financial flows across borders were encouraged and enabled by secrecy, the TJN said.
The TJN’s announcement received wide coverage in the British press, including the Daily Telegraph. The paper reported that Geoff Cook, CEO of Jersey Finance – which promotes Jersey as an international finance centre – called into question the TJN’s methodology. ‘Jersey’s ranking in the index is nonsensical,’ he said.
Responding on the Telegraph website, Alex Cobham, Chief Policy Adviser at Christian Aid said the index ‘meticulously documents the legislative frameworks of 72 jurisdictions ... and ranks them on the basis of objective indicators of the secrecy they provide’.
‘Switzerland’s place at the top of the index tells us something about the nature of the tax regime with which the British government has shown it is prepared to do business'
Alex Cobham, Christian Aid
The TJN said: ‘Secrecy jurisdictions, a term we often prefer instead of the more widely used term tax havens, compete to attract illicit financial flows of all kinds, with secrecy as one of the most important lures. A global industry has developed where banks, law practices and accounting firms provide secretive offshore structures to their tax dodging clients. Secrecy is a central feature of global financial markets – but international financial institutions, economists and many others don’t confront it seriously.’
Cobham said: ‘Disappointingly, given that the G20 group of governments committed in London to eradicate tax havens, the findings show that more secretive jurisdictions have actually increased their share of business, and more jurisdictions now offer greater secrecy.
‘Switzerland’s place at the top of the index tells us something about the nature of the tax regime with which the British government has shown it is prepared to do business. The authorities here are apparently happy with a deal in which Britons with secret Swiss bank accounts become liable to some tax without having to disclose their identities.’
Eversheds, the international law firm, noted this week that Switzerland remained the world’s ‘premier tax haven’.
Tax associate Ben Jones said that while it may have seemed that Switzerland had been ‘opening up to the world’, it had for the most part ‘managed to maintain and protect its valuable, but contentious, banking secrecy laws’.
‘The problem is that the banking sector is so fundamental to the Swiss economy, and banking secrecy so fundamental to the success of Swiss banks, that Switzerland simply cannot afford to bow to international pressure for greater transparency’
Ben Jones, Eversheds
He said the US, through legal actions against prominent Swiss banks, was ‘the only country that has had some success at piercing this veil (ignoring the work of whistleblowers and data thieves), but such successes are on a small scale, one-off basis only’.
Jones added: ‘The problem is that the banking sector is so fundamental to the Swiss economy, and banking secrecy so fundamental to the success of Swiss banks, that Switzerland simply cannot afford to bow to international pressure for greater transparency.
‘For this reason, although the title in fact has many different interpretations, Switzerland is likely to be considered by many as a “tax haven” for years to come.’
Christian Aid, responding in August to the terms of the agreement ‘initialled’ by HMRC and the Swiss government, said the deal amounted to ‘collusion with criminality’. The agreement was signed yesterday.
‘Switzerland is the grandfather of the world’s tax havens,’ the Tax Justice Network said as it published its Financial Secrecy Index for 2011 earlier this week.
‘Staggering’ amounts of illicit financial flows across borders were encouraged and enabled by secrecy, the TJN said.
The TJN’s announcement received wide coverage in the British press, including the Daily Telegraph. The paper reported that Geoff Cook, CEO of Jersey Finance – which promotes Jersey as an international finance centre – called into question the TJN’s methodology. ‘Jersey’s ranking in the index is nonsensical,’ he said.
Responding on the Telegraph website, Alex Cobham, Chief Policy Adviser at Christian Aid said the index ‘meticulously documents the legislative frameworks of 72 jurisdictions ... and ranks them on the basis of objective indicators of the secrecy they provide’.
‘Switzerland’s place at the top of the index tells us something about the nature of the tax regime with which the British government has shown it is prepared to do business'
Alex Cobham, Christian Aid
The TJN said: ‘Secrecy jurisdictions, a term we often prefer instead of the more widely used term tax havens, compete to attract illicit financial flows of all kinds, with secrecy as one of the most important lures. A global industry has developed where banks, law practices and accounting firms provide secretive offshore structures to their tax dodging clients. Secrecy is a central feature of global financial markets – but international financial institutions, economists and many others don’t confront it seriously.’
Cobham said: ‘Disappointingly, given that the G20 group of governments committed in London to eradicate tax havens, the findings show that more secretive jurisdictions have actually increased their share of business, and more jurisdictions now offer greater secrecy.
‘Switzerland’s place at the top of the index tells us something about the nature of the tax regime with which the British government has shown it is prepared to do business. The authorities here are apparently happy with a deal in which Britons with secret Swiss bank accounts become liable to some tax without having to disclose their identities.’
Eversheds, the international law firm, noted this week that Switzerland remained the world’s ‘premier tax haven’.
Tax associate Ben Jones said that while it may have seemed that Switzerland had been ‘opening up to the world’, it had for the most part ‘managed to maintain and protect its valuable, but contentious, banking secrecy laws’.
‘The problem is that the banking sector is so fundamental to the Swiss economy, and banking secrecy so fundamental to the success of Swiss banks, that Switzerland simply cannot afford to bow to international pressure for greater transparency’
Ben Jones, Eversheds
He said the US, through legal actions against prominent Swiss banks, was ‘the only country that has had some success at piercing this veil (ignoring the work of whistleblowers and data thieves), but such successes are on a small scale, one-off basis only’.
Jones added: ‘The problem is that the banking sector is so fundamental to the Swiss economy, and banking secrecy so fundamental to the success of Swiss banks, that Switzerland simply cannot afford to bow to international pressure for greater transparency.
‘For this reason, although the title in fact has many different interpretations, Switzerland is likely to be considered by many as a “tax haven” for years to come.’
