For those who follow offshore, specifically Swiss, banking, there have been some interesting news items recently.

According to a Reuters report, Swiss Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz repeated last week that Swiss banks will no longer accept untaxed money, known in German as ‘Schwarzgeld’ or black money. He said Switzerland also wanted to find a solution for the estimated $600-700 billion of undeclared assets still hidden in the country.

Separately, Switzerland’s justice minister questioned whether tax evasion should continue to be treated as a misdemeanour rather than a crime. Switzerland has already abandoned the distinction between tax evasion – failing to declare your income or wealth to the taxman – and tax fraud , which is deliberately misleading the revenue – for foreigners investing money in the country.

HSBC, meanwhile, has been implicated in handling of schwarzgeld for American clients, alongside Credit Suisse and UBS. So says an article in London’s Daily Telegraph describing subterfuge by an account holder who mailed large amounts of cash into the USA in an attempt to avoid detection. HSBC, like most major banks, has private banking operations in Switzerland and you may recall it was data stolen from HSBC that recently fell into the hands of French tax authorities.

The French, meanwhile, released a new blacklist of tax havens and will penalise French companies and individuals doing business with those countries. The blacklisted countries are Anguilla, Belize, Brunei, Costa Rica, Dominica, Grenada, Guatemala, the Cook Islands, Marshall Islands, Liberia, Montserrat, Nauru, Niue, Panama, Philippines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and Grenadines.

The Financial Times, as usual, has a more upbeat and realistic view, with a piece pointing out how important safe havens like Switzerland are when it comes to offering stability in times of crisis: Greek crisis proves Switzerland is still a safe haven. As investors were being freaked by the unfolding crisis in the Euro zone, money was pouring into Swiss banks. This would suggest that tax was not the main motive for opening accounts in Switzerland, but rather the stability offered by a strong and trusted currency, the Swiss Franc. This of course is what we’ve been saying for years!

If you have unreported bank accounts in Switzerland – or anywhere else for that matter – the time to do something about it is now. We are happy to assist our members with referrals to reputable, discreet experts who can help. We have personally seen them succeed in solving problems like this without too much pain! Contact the Q Wealth Front Desk initially and ask to be put in touch with our recommended experts who handle this service. (Please note this service is reserved for our paid-up members. Please read our Practical Offshore Banking Guide first. If you are not yet a member you can sign up here)

This is an edited version of an e-mail sent out to our Q Bytes mailing list. Q Bytes is a free weekly e-mail service that keeps you up to scratch on wealth preservation, asset protection and offshore banking, as well as strategies for prospering during times of crisis. To sign up free to Q Bytes, go here.

by Peter Macfarlane, Offshore Banking Consultant

Our recent article on How to Open an Offshore Bank Account in Singapore has attracted a great deal of interest and feedback from readers, so I wanted to revisit this theme and talk a little about the differences between Singapore and Panama, two international financial centres we talk about a lot here at Q Wealth. I will also briefly touch on Switzerland. And I will tell you below about three factors you should look for in choosing the best offshore bank for you - in today’s financial environment.

A frequent question is “which is the best jurisdiction for offshore banking?” However, there’s no cookie-cutter answer to this question. What works for one person might not work for another. I tell people that these days, that the bank you choose to work with is actually more important than the jurisdiction. So bearing that in mind, here as promised are three factors you should look for in choosing the best offshore bank for you:

• The bank must have experience with and value international clients. The bank’s management must show a commitment to the international or offshore banking market – for example by opening branches and representative offices overseas, and by knowing how to use jurisdictional arbitrage to the advantage of their clients.  Banks that have mainly local business simply won’t have the expertise that is required in today’s highly complex regulatory environment for international banking. Lack of knowledge is dangerous, because banks need to know how to protect themselves in order to protect their clients. If a bank does not depend on international clients, they might simply wake up one morning and decide that your account is more hassle to them than it’s worth. That would be bad news for you

Note: every rule has an exception. In Swiss banking, I always recommend Cantonal Banks. These are strong, locally owned banks that have no presence outside Switzerland. Switzerland must be about the only country in the world where banks that live mainly off the local market generally have sufficient expertise to provide good service to non-residents. Want to know how to open accounts in Swiss Cantonal Banks? Check out this post: Alternatives to Swiss Banks for Wealth Management.

• The bank should offer precious metals dealing services. With the decline in fiat currencies in full swing, every astute investor should have part of his or her portfolio in precious metals. A bank that does not offer gold or silver does not understand the type of clients like you who read this blog – period. More and more banks are offering precious metals bank accounts. I’m grateful to Simon Black of Sovereign Man for this very informative post with a good tip on how to open precious metals accounts in Singapore. Sovereign Man suggests trying United Overseas Bank in Singapore. (The very name suggests that this bank fits our first criteria, adaptability for international clients, doesn’t it?)  You can also open precious metals accounts at banks in other jurisdictions: some I know of are Andorra, Austria and Switzerland. My preference is still for banks where you can walk in off the street and buy gold coins such as Krugerrands, the Canadian Maple Leaf coins or the Austrian Philharmonikers. One of the European banks I sometimes refer clients to is actually involved directly in the gold mining business – now that is the kind of bank I like! I won’t embarrass them by naming them in public, but I will say it is one of the banks listed in my Practical Offshore Banking Guide.

Note that this advice kind of rules out Panamanian banks. I like Panama as an offshore business centre. It beats the typical IBC jurisdictions hands down in my opinion. I’ve never recommended it for banking. I always say, ‘take your Panama Corporation and open a bank account in Europe.’ If you don’t know why, find out by reading my Panama Hidden Truths Report that you can download absolutely free right now.

• Choose a Low Profile Bank. Another thing I’ve been telling people for years is not to rely on bank secrecy laws. The recent string of data theft cases has finally rammed this point home to people. Liechtenstein might have the best banking laws and best privacy in the world, but that doesn’t help if a corrupt employee steals the data. In my view the culture of the bank is a lot more important than the legal protections. Let’s compare an international banking behemoth like UBS or Credit Suisse, with a small Swiss Cantonal Bank. First of all, which is more likely to be the target? Of course, UBS or Credit Suisse with all the glossy ads, is more likely to be a target than some small Cantonal Bank that nobody outside that area of Switzerland has ever even heard of. And outsourcing is not a concept known to small European banks, who still have a true privacy culture out of respect for client confidentiality. In banks with privacy cultures, you can still open numbered accounts. These are not anonymous, but your name will not be in the computer system. It will be in a paper file in the bank’s vault. Yes, there are still banks that offer numbered accounts. Again, details in my Practical Offshore Banking Guide.

Of course, there’s a lot more to choosing the best offshore bank than simply the above three factors. But I do believe they are an important part of the decision making process. The bottom line is that these days, you should choose the bank not the jurisdiction. The right bank will be ready to move to another country at the drop of a hat to protect clients’ interests.

Finally please allow me my customary reminder, that if you like the above information and haven’t yet read our free ‘Secrets of the Super Rich’ course you should sign up immediately by using the sign-up box at the top of this page. There is no obligation and of course you can unsubscribe at any time.

Unfortunately, when it comes to offshore banking and international asset protection, people make a lot of mistakes. Blindly trusting advisers is one of the more serious.

We’ve long warned here of two things:

1. Don’t do business with offshore banks that have a presence in your home country. Especially not ones who send in employees to participate in illegal tax evasion schemes. Heeding this advised would have saved 50,000 Americans a lot of headache and loss of sleep in the recent IRS and Justice Department case against leading Swiss bank UBS.

2. Don’t assume that because you are not American, you are safe. This rule is highlighted by the latest news from Ottawa…

UBS, Switzerland’s biggest private bank and one with substantial operations worldwide, agreed in August to reveal the names of nerarly five thousand of its wealthiest US clients under intense pressure. Many people believed that the best offshore banks were the biggest – or simply went for the convenience factor given the Swiss bank’s large North American operations. They are learning to their cost, however, that ‘small is beautiful’ as strong and conservative local banks in Switzerland, such as the Swiss Cantonal Banks we have written about in Q Wealth Report, have been left unmolested and have maintained respectable balance sheets.

But now Revenue Canada wants the same information, according to Reuters.

A spokesman for Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty recently confirmed that there is talk of tougher laws to compel offshore banks to cooperate with Revenue Canada.

As the Reuters article states:

Offshore private banking involves managing the wealth of rich clients from a foreign location. However, some clients have exploited the system to avoid paying taxes, especially if transactions are carried out in traditional banking secrecy strongholds such as Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

Fortunately Canadians (like Brits, Ausies, Kiwis and others) have the huge advantage over Americans, that they can simply opt out of their domestic tax systems by leaving their respective home countries. More and more Canadians are choosing to do just that – often becoming ‘snowbirds’ commuting to winter homes in warmer climes and living tax-free offshore. But to do that, reliable information and research is necessary. (The USA is the only country in the world that tries to tax its non-resident citizens.)

These topics are frequently covered in Q Wealth Report, your leading one stop shop for information on offshore asset protection and international banking. If you’re a Canadian with offshore assets, regard this latest piece of news as a warning call. It’s time to review the situation and look into your options. Here at Q Wealth we offer impartial advice, a wealth of articles and free reports, and a unique rolodex of reliable expert contacts in the offshore world.

If you’re not Canadian, will the next news of an offshore crackdown be from your government?

Offshore hedge funds, mutual funds and so-called high yield investment programs could be next on the IRS hitlist. That’s the conclusion of a recent Wall Street Journal article. After the recent events with Swiss banking behemoth UBS, other large offshore banks and financial institutions are ‘low hanging fruit.’ What does this mean for you as an offshore investor? Peter Macfarlane explains below.

Alex Raskolnikov, a professor and offshore tax expert at Columbia University Law School quoted by the Journal, believes that the IRS and US Justice Department will try to identify tax evaders who invest with offshore hedge funds managed by offshore banks. This will play out as as part of the US government’s ongoing effort to have big foreign financial institutions, which are incorrectly regarded by many as the best offshore banks, to provide them with confidential information about Americans who open offshore bank accounts.

Legislation recently introduced in the US Senate by Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus would go beyond the existing FBAR (Foreign Bank Account Reporting) requirements, which are filed by taxpayers only on annual basis. It would require U.S. financial institutions to report to the IRS transfers of money into any foreign financial account in real time. The IRS would therefore automatically receive electronic information on new offshore bank accounts as soon as they were opened. Scary stuff, for sure! But that is exactly the purpose of it.

Until recently, US tax attorneys  understood that FBAR requirements did not apply to interests in off-shore hedge funds. However in June of this year, according to the article,  an IRS official stated that the term “financial interest” would include hedge funds that “function as mutual funds.”

Ironically, anecdotal evidence suggests that the majority of investors in offshore hedge funds are in turn US tax-exempt hedge funds such as charitable organizations and pension funds. However, while hedge funds were once the domain of sophisticated investors playing with millions, there is no doubt that many are now operating more like regular mutual funds.

Of course, it is by no means clear how this information on transfers of money into foreign bank accounts would help the IRS. Millions of international transactions clear in New York every day and surely few investors seeking confidentiality offshore would directly transfer money between accounts held in their own names.

How could investors avoid popping up on the IRS radar? Simple. By transacting business in currencies other than the US dollar. This will surely be an advantage rather than an inconvenience for most American offshore investors. The major motivation for going offshore these days is not tax at all, but rather protecting the value of assets against the terminal decline of the dollar and the collapse of the US financial system.

Many of the more private European banks are now actively trying to dissuade clients from transacting business in US dollars at all, preferring that their customer data doesn’t have to be sent to New York. For example, one private banker recently told me that when a client wants to transfer dollars to another bank, they typically fix a EUR-USD rate in advance with the other bank. The transaction settles in Euros, and then is converted back to dollars on arrival in the internal books of the beneficiary/receiving bank. Importantly, my banker prefers to absorb the additional costs of the spread, rather than expose clients to dollar transaction clearance in the US.

Gold is also emerging as a settlement currency for interbank transactions in the mainstream banking system. This is a pleasing novelty that I hadn’t expected to see. Whilst regular readers know I’m a big fan of holding physical gold bullion as opposed to paper or electronic gold liabilities, such liabilities are certainly useful for short term transactions.

Raiffeisen Zentralbank Austria, which with its Eastern European and Asian clients has one of the highest volumes of US dollar clearing outside the USA, has been pioneering this. Since earlier this year they have been offering regular bank accounts denominated in gold ounces, which have prompted a number of offshore banks to offer such services to their clients, using RZB as the correspondent and clearer. A number of banks are now offering gold as a regular currency option in the currency portfolio of their multi-currency bank accounts. Yes, that means you can actually send and receive SWIFT transfers denominated in gold, provided both the sending and receiving banks have appropriate correspondent accounts.

Of course, for many Americans – those most affected by this clampdown – opening bank accounts denominated in other major world currencies appears to be  just a pipe dream. Very few American banks even offer Euro accounts. That’s a far cry from some of the banks we routinely refer clients to, which allow you to hold balances in more than thirty currencies conveniently managed under one account number. And then, there is the problem that many foreign banks simply refuse to work with US clients.

The fact is, however, that despite the government propoganda, opening an offshore bank account is a lot easier than you might think.

It is perfectly legal for Americans to hold as many offshore bank accounts as they wish. And there are still distinguished private banks in reputable tax havens that welcome American clients – especially those who don’t wish to do business in dollars. You will a special note for US Citizens (together with another special note for European Union Citizens) in Q Wealth’s Practical Offshore Banking Guide 2009. Best of all, it includes specific contact details of various banks and brokerage houses. In many cases you can use this information to open your account with no need for hiring an intermediary, and to open an account without even leaving home! You can download this 40-page manual absolutely free with your membership of Q Wealth.

If you are not signing up yet but are interested in hearing more about this topic, don’t hesitate to sign up instead for our Free Q Bytes e-mail newsletter, your weekly guide offering analysis of what’s going on in the offshore banking and asset protection world.

by Peter Macfarlane

Last week, I wrote an upbeat article on the future of Swiss private and offshore banking, entitled “The Future of Swiss Banking Looks Better than Ever.” This article focused mainly on the recently averted US trade war with Switzerland, and how the IRS got the publicity it wanted to scare people into compliance. It appears that the deal between the IRS and Switzerland regarding UBS account holders has still not been fully resolved, dragging out the publicity machine still further.

But how is this strategy playing out in the rest of the world? Another much vaunted tax information exchange agreement (TIEA) is that which the UK has been negotiating with Liechtenstein. A press release put out by the HMRC (British tax authorities) states firmly that “Those who have been evading UK tax on assets held in Liechtenstein banks must now settle with us. There are no alternatives.”

Is that true? Not really. At any rate there is certainly no need to rush into any hasty decisions…  as the Press Release notes, “The Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility (LDF) runs from 1 September 2009 to 31 March 2015.”

This oddly-named Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility even more oddly also offers “a special Bespoke Service, including an option for personalised treatment by a `discrete [sic] HMRC (UK Revenue and Customs) team to ensure consistency of treatment’” notes TJN. At least it sounds like private banking clients will be getting the VIP service and treatment they are accustomed to!

There are more details which actually make this TIEA extremely favorable to the taxpayer, that I won’t go into here but can certainly cover in-depth in a future article in The Q Wealth Report. The bottom line is that this agreement – even more so than the US-Switzerland example – is more words and political posturing than anything else.

Brits with undeclared holdings in Liechtenstein probably need not be unduly worried, though it is clearly time to start looking into alternatives. One good alternative beckons in Panama for example – the Panama Foundation laws are almost a carbon copy of the famed Liechtenstein Anstalt or Foundation, and there is no TIEA with the UK.

But Brits at least have the option for completely and legally eliminating income taxes at a stroke. And those with undeclared holdings in Liechtenstein have until 2015 to do it. I’m talking, of course, about simply following their money and retiring overseas.

Contrast that to the USA where the IRS is dedicating more and more resources to pursuing thousands non-resident US citizens whom, it believes, are not filing their taxes properly. Americans are left with only one option to legally eliminate US taxes for ever – and that is renunciation of citizenship. It’s a big step, but certainly an option that Americans now seem to be taking up in droves – the brain drain I’ve often talked about. I’m seeing lots of American clients who at least want to establish residency somewhere offshore with a view to keeping their options open. Smart Americans are leaving and taking their money with them.

But it’s not nice to be stateless. So in order to renounce citizenship, or even just to keep their options open, US citizens need to be thinking about acquiring a second passport - whether it be via the slower and more secure route to a new citizenship through residence and naturalization, or the faster route of buying a second passport via economic citizenship programs.

Away from the USA and the UK, all around the world, tax havens targeted by the OECD and G20 summit in April amid a blaze of publicity seem to be getting back to business as normal. Belgium, hardly a low tax nation but another producer of fine chocolate – and one that perhaps surprisingly has substantial interests in managing non-resident bank accounts, just completed the hurdle of signing twelve TIEAs necessary to get off the blacklist. The last five countries they signed with? Singapore, the Seychelles, San Marino, the Isle of Man, and Monaco.

The cracks in the crackdown are beginning to show. A study recently published in Germany claims that “Tax is the price of civilization. Tax havens are the price of globalization.” Governments know that already and act accordingly. Just don’t expect them to admit it in public. And expect them to ramp up the use of scare tactics and bluffing to keep the populace under control.

Further reading: Writer Peter Macfarlane is a commentator, writer and consultant on offshore banking and asset protection matters. He offers a free personal e-mail consultation to all Q Wealth Members. If you are not yet a member, join today for instant access to Peter’s reports including the Practical Offshore Banking Guide, The Gold Report, and “Panama Foundations Demystified.”

by Peter Macfarlane, Joint Editor

Most continental Europeans like to take an extended vacation in August. But for those of us in the offshore banking and asset protection business, that just hasn’t been possible this year. I’ve also been relatively quiet in terms of my blogs recently, but it’s not because I’ve been on holiday. Quite the opposite. I’ve been beavering a way at full inboxes and stacks of paperwork from clients. In fact, business this August has been busier than most busy months in other years. It seems people are finally getting the message. Your assets are safer offshore! This in spite of a huge publicity campaign suggesting the opposite and backed by all the media resources the government could muster.

One of the main focuses has been the war of words this summer between Switzerland and the United States. But what practicaln implications does this have for those who already have Swiss bank accounts, or for those who are considering opening a Swiss account for the first time? That is what I will examine in this article.

Last week we heard the news from Swiss private banking giant UBS that they had finally reached agreement with the US IRS. Of course, nobody seriously expected a banking, watches and chocolate trade war – an agreement had to be made after appropriate posturing for a while on both sides. The terms of the agreement are still unclear – probably as part of a face-saving exercise for the IRS. My guess is they really didn’t get much actual data on account holders. Maybe a few thousand blatant tax evaders who had been stupid and lazy enough to evade taxes by holding assets in their personal names in undeclared accounts were turned over. If these people had been following our advice from even ten years ago they wouldn’t have had a problem!

However, the IRS got exactly what they set out to get in the first place. This case wasn’t really about information at all. It was about publicity.

Appropriately for those who speak with forked tongues, the IRS sent out a two-pronged warning message: first, to the US public and the world at large, that ‘Big Brother’ doesn’t approve of offshore banking. Thousands of American citizens with accounts at UBS suffered a lot of sleepless nights, and perhaps quite a few have decided to ‘turn themselves’ in anyway via the current tax amnesty arrangements even though their information never had been revealed and never would be. That is why it is so important, if you want to go offshore, to make sure you have access to the right information (shameless plug for our services here!) Those Americans who still believe and trust their own government – a fast shrinking minority – might be dissuaded from opening further offshore accounts.

The other prong of the IRS war of words was a message to Swiss banks, and to a lesser extent offshore banks in general. Banks across Switzerland and elsewhere have been busy closing the accounts of US citizens, based on ‘policy decisions.’ This again, of course, was part of the IRS’ plan all along. Other banks and governments have been taking note too: for example I’ve been hearing reports from Singapore and Hong Kong of banks closing offshore accounts belonging to Australian citizens, as the Australian government is showing of every sign of stepping up the attacks… probably emboldened by the success of the IRS publicity machine.

UBS was taught a lesson. An interesting article in this week’s Economist entitled Offshore Private Banking: Bourne to Survive, “UBS has been haemorrhaging funds, with an outflow of SFr30 billion ($28 billion) so far this year. But the country’s next four biggest listed banks, Credit Suisse among them, have had private-bank inflows of SFr31 billion.” A point of the Economist article is that people have abandoned the bank (UBS) but not the country or the concept.

Another of the Economist’s points is that most people are not actually in Swiss banks for tax reasons. I’ve long written that tax stopped being the major factor in driving people offshore years ago. Sure, people don’t like to hand over half of the fruits of their labour to the state. I can understand that and I’m sure you can too. But in the bigger picture, it is the distrust of big government that is driving people to protect their wealth offshore.

Tax, just like say electricity or salaries, is an expense people will pay if the environment for doing business is right. It would be a stupid person who would lose 100% of something just to save 50% of it. But what governments don’t get is that they have to make the whole business environment attractive. And the way the government should do this? Just keep their noses out of people’s private business and lives!

As more and more business can be done from anywhere on the planet, why would people stay in a hostile business environment? It’s not just money that economies like the USA, UK and Australia are haemorrhaging at the moment. It’s the smart people like you and me who follow the money.

These days as the Economist says, banking clients are  “mainly in Switzerland for its political stability and well-run banks.” (Since early 2007, 135 banks have “imploded” in the USA, but not one in Switzerland) Nothing to do with taxes. They are trying to escape an unhealthy business environment with factors like inflation, devaluation, bank collapses, civil asset forfeitures and the like.

Why oh why then, and this pains me… would people move their assets into the four largest banks? I’m on record as saying Credit Suisse will likely be the next target. It may be this year, or next year, I don’t know. But Credit Suisse already agreed, for example, to some information exchange with the French government. If you are a new reader here, I invite you to explore this blog and the related articles and you’ll find some of my advice on alternatives to UBS for Swiss private banking. For example my articles on the Best and Safest Offshore Banks and Countries and Alternatives to Swiss Banks for Wealth Management.

The bottom line, however, is that there are better alternatives than big Swiss banks like UBS and Credit Suisse for your offshore accounts – whether you are looking for an active business account, an online trading account, or a more hands-off style traditional Swiss wealth management account. If you would like to know more, that is what we are here for. Our membership costs just $87 per year and entitles you to immediate access to a number of informative downloads – for example our recently updated Practical Offshore Banking Guide. If you are not yet a member, go ahead and sign up right now. Or if you are not yet ready to make that commitment,  sign up for our Free Five Part Course on Offshore Banking and Asset Protection first of all to get a feel for our material…

Anyway… I’ve gone on long enough, but for sure we will be hearing more about this topic. A lot more! I’m just on the way over to Panama City, Panama now and will shortly be reporting more from there on some interesting developments in the way the Panamanian government and banking system is handling the heavy-handed OECD and G20 threats. If you would like to receive this update on the offshore scene in Panama, sign up for our special Free Panama Offshore Report and I’ll be sure to get it to you. There’s no charge – all you need to give us is your e-mail address!

by Peter Macfarlane, Offshore Banking Consultant for the Q Wealth Report

One recurring question we hear almost every day in the wealth management business is “How Can I Open a Swiss Bank account?” Whilst a minority of those asking the question might really be candidates for Swiss private banking, the majority seem to have watched too many Bond movies! This article is a brief introduction to Swiss banking to help you decide which of these categories you fit into.

First of all let me point out that if you are looking for a secret bank account, there are places that are much more discreet, much more under the radar than Switzerland. You’ll find, for example, nine alternatives to Swiss banks which also have that “private banking feel” listed in the Practical Offshore Banking Guide 2009, which is available free to Q Wealth members. This instantly-downloadable pdf guide also explains the truth behind some of the services associated with Swiss banking like anonymous numbered bank accounts (yes, it is still possible to open numbered bank accounts legally as of 2009! – details in the guide)

But what if you have your heart set on a real Swiss account? Opening a bank account in Switzerland is in theory not too difficult – but like all banks anywhere in the world, Swiss banks do reserve the right to refuse customers. Needless to say the recent hoo-hah from the G20 and the OECD has not made it any easier to open Swiss bank accounts. All banks are scared of being accused of money laundering and this has made it much harder, especially for non Swiss residents, to open bank accounts.

Then, you need to choose a Swiss bank according your requirements. If you want traditional private banking service and a free lunch each time you visit your banker, expect to invest at least a million as your opening deposit. Some of these real Swiss private banks are so discreet they don’t even have signs outside their offices, let alone websites.

You can, however, open accounts at more run-of-the-mill Swiss banks with a very low opening deposit or minimum figure to open accounts. Swiss banks like Migros or Swissquote Bank (which is really more of a discount brokerage, E-Trade style) have no minimum opening deposits whatsoever and you can start the process all by yourself – no need to pay an intermediary. The disadvantage is that, well, there is no particular advantage if you see what I mean… this is not traditional Swiss banking at all! There is nothing private about these banks. Swissquote, for example, will require you to waive bank secrecy before you can even open account!

If you have a Swiss work permit and wish to open a local Swiss bank account, that changes things significantly. In order to pay your salary in, your employer will probably require that you have a bank account. But Swiss working papers make all the difference.  Some of the documents you will need, according to expat website AngloInfo, are:

• Passport or identity card
• Recent utility bill (electricity is best)
• Residence permit
• A copy of your work contract
• Cross border workers from France or Germany, a copy of your permis frontalier (cross border work permit)

It is not necessary to make an appointment to open a current account, says Anglo Info. Opening an account can be done in a day and means of payments (like cash cards) will usually arrive within a week to ten days of the account being opened.

In general banks all over Switzerland are open from Monday to Friday from 08:30 to 16:30, and are closed at weekends and on public holidays.

You may, however, not need a Swiss bank account at all. Household bills and invoices are more commonly paid through the post office, with a so-called Bulletin de Versement (bill slip). Bill slips are attached to each bill that you receive by the post.

Below are some links to major Swiss retail banks. Remember these are not the same as Private Banks. If you are a non-resident looking to open a Swiss bank account, you need to be looking at Private Banks since they are the ones that accept non-resident business. To sign up for our free newsletter on Asset Protection and Private Offshore Banking, visit our Q Bytes page.

Major Swiss Banks

• Banque Coop
• Banque Migros
• Banque Raiffeisen
• Crédit Suisse
• UBS SA

No, it’s NOT the beginning of the end for tax havens, but they will be slightly different… by Shannon Roxborough for The Q Wealth Report

Mistakenly viewed primarily as playgrounds of the ultra-rich, vehicles for tax evasion and shelters of the proceeds of criminal activity, the 40 some territories around the globe that are considered tax havens have been receiving some unwelcome attention lately.

It has, in fact, been a rough past year or so for the world’s low-tax and offshore centers. They are finding themselves increasingly in the crosshairs of the cash-strapped G-20 and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a Paris-based bureaucracy run by high-tax nations such as the United States, UK, Germany and France.

Desperate to prop up their ailing economies, these countries are aggressively seeking to replace some of the trillions in taxpayer money that been used for stimulus packages and handed over to corporate interests in the form of bailouts.

In the latest escalation of the war on fiscal shelters, in their zeal to track down wealthy tax evaders, industrialized nations are intent on shredding privacy laws the world over. Half a dozen countries from Switzerland to Hong Kong have already caved to international pressure and threats of sanctions, agreeing to lift the veils of secrecy that have shrouded them for decades, and in some cases, centuries.

The momentum against tax havens started picking up speed last year thanks to U.S. Senator Carl Levin, a long-time foe of offshore tax havens, who insists they deprive government coffers of $100 billion in annual revenues and says “Tax havens are engaged in economic warfare against the United States and honest, hard-working Americans”—some argue that high total U.S. tax burden, which wipes out about half of most Americans’ incomes, is economic warfare.

The U.S. Congress last March began zeroing in on Swiss bank secrecy after UBS admitted helping American clients conceal assets from the government. The OECD recently blacklisted Switzerland and a number of other countries and jurisdictions because they “do not furnish banking information to tax authorities of other countries within the framework of income tax evasion.”

The truth is this political effort is not so much about snaring tax cheats as it is about the bigger picture: the long-term goal of destroying tax havens. Why? The answer is simple: tax-happy nations fear fiscal havens because they promote tax competition, financial privacy and fiscal sovereignty, all of which limit the ability of governments to act as monopolies.

Even with the stepped up efforts of their opponents, all is not lost. The growing coalition of world leaders may be softening some tax havens’ traditional codes of silence, causing the pillars of secrecy surrounding financial transactions to crumble, but most who use these sanctuaries to privately safeguard their assets, run their businesses and protect themselves and future generations have little to worry about (unless they happen to be on one of the clients lists that are being handed over to authorities).

Tax havens will continue to play a critical role in global finance for the foreseeable future. Besides, for those with real concerns about the security of their assets and holdings, there are many other privacy-conscious and tax-friendly places that manage to fly under the radar of financial watchdogs, providing the perks of tax havens without the scrutiny.

In the coming issue the Q Wealth Report, I’ll provide insights into one such place—a little-known lifestyle haven that doubles as an unlikely tax refuge.

Shannon Roxborough, editor and publisher of the global lifestyle magazine Borderless Living, is former correspondent with Money magazine. A widely-published writer and international consultant, he in an expert on living and retiring abroad and offshore planning. Visit www.BorderlessLiving.com.

by Peter Macfarlane for the Q Wealth Report

In the American media and press, a familiar news story is being rehashed – again! The IRS are trying to scare people away from perfectly legal asset protection and offshore banking strategies, by cashing in on publicity surrounding their recent coup against Swiss banking guant UBS. UBS have almost closed down their offshore private banking divisions in Geneva, Zurich and Lugano following IRS pressure.

“In the hush-hush world of Swiss banking, the unthinkable is happening: secrets are spilling into the open,” comments Lynnley Browning in the New York Times. “UBS, the largest bank in Switzerland, agreed on Wednesday to divulge the names of well-heeled Americans whom the authorities suspect of using offshore accounts at the bank to evade taxes.”

Reading beyond the headlines, however, the truth becomes clearer:  “It is unclear how many of its clients’ names UBS will divulge. Federal prosecutors have been examining about 19,000 accounts at the bank, but UBS ultimately may disclose the identities of only a few hundred customers.”

This, dear reader, is what I wrote about here just a few days ago in my article Is Swiss or Offshore Banking Dead? No Way!

It’s pure hype, as the article continues quoting a known hater of all things offshore:   “The Swiss are saying that this is the end of Swiss banking as they knew it,” said Jack Blum, an offshore tax specialist. “Nobody will trust the security  of the Swiss bank account.”

Exactly as I predicted the other day – a few hundred, or more likely a few dozen, people who can be identified by the IRS as tax fraudsters for other reasons will have their banking details turned over to the IRS, in accordance with the treaties. Nothing new there. It is not the end of Swiss banking. It is just the IRS trying to get publicity to scare people away from offshore bank accounts.

The Swiss do, however, have another very significant problem at the moment, that you should take into account when considering Swiss banking. In an interview with Swiss daily newspaper Tagesanzeiger, a well-known economist has warned that Switzerland risks bankruptcy, if the recent market turmoil centering on Eastern Europe is not contained quickly.  At issue are loans made in Swiss francs to Eastern European debtors – in other words, sub-prime mortgages in places like Hungary, where the property market has collapsed. The rapid growth in many countries of Eastern Europe was stimulated through loans in Swiss francs. Swiss banks and offshore institutions loaned the local banks francs, which passed the francs on to their borrowers. The loans were attractive because borrowers paid interest rates much lower than required for loans in local currency.

With many countries in the region falling into depression, currencies and asset prices are plunging. Therefore, debtors domiciled in Eastern Europe are increasingly expected to have difficulty with mounting foreign debt loads — and that spells trouble for Switzerland…. There’s a translation of the original article here.

If you are interested in learning more about protecting your assets through Swiss private offshore banking, and more attractive lower profile wealth management alternatives in Europe and elsewhere, Q Wealth Report brings you the answers. The Practical Offshore Banking Guide 2009 is a well-written and researched independent guide telling you in about 40 pages how to open your offshore bank account and – more importantly – how to keep it in good standing, and maintain a good relationship with your offshore banker.

says Peter Macfarlane, Offshore Banking Expert at The Q Wealth Report

The recent scandal involving Swiss bank UBS and the closure of 19,000 offshore bank accounts for American account holders has people running scared. It’s been a big publicity coup for the IRS and indeed for European tax authorities too. However, I was interviewed the other day for a forthcoming magazine article, and the interviewer asked me bluntly whether offshore banking, and more specifically Swiss private banking, is “over.” This got me thinking.

The why and the how of offshore banking for security and asset protection is alive and well. In fact, for American and European Union citizens, banking offshore is more important than ever. Here’s why:

1. First of all, the hype in the media suggests that those 19,000 account holders will be in trouble with the IRS. This is not true. Sure, it’s what the IRS want you to believe, because they don’t want you to bank offshore. If you bank offshore they have less control over your money – so bad news for governments. But provided you have done nothing illegal, those people have nothing to fear. Even if those people have been illegally evading their US tax obligations, most likely they still have nothing to fear – though they should be taking urgent steps to put things right. The truth is that IRS attempts to learn the identities of the 19,000 account holders will be handled by UBS on a case-by-case basis strictly in accordance with both Swiss and American law and the respective international treaties, with UBS refusing to cooperate in any wide-net fishing expedition. By closing the accounts, UBS have done the right thing in helping to protect their clients.
2. UBS clients will need to move their accounts to other banks, or the clients will receive checks in the mail. Obviously, depositing the checks in a home bank would leave a paper trail – playing right into the hands of the IRS. The IRS hopes that those affected who might not have declared their Swiss bank accounts will be scared and own up. If they don’t, however, the chance that they will be ‘caught’ is almost nil. Fortunately, there are still plenty of lower profile, secure offshore banks out there who are willing to take on the new business – even from American or European citizens.
3. The mistake these people made was banking with UBS in the first place. It is stretching things these days even to call UBS a Swiss bank. It would be better described as an international bank, and it has a huge presence in the USA. It is therefore vulnerable to pressure being put on its US operations to breach Swiss bank secrecy laws. If you want further proof, Senator Carl Levin of Michigan said “We can’t get every bank in front of us to do what they did,” referring to UBS rolling over and apologizing. Very true words from the Senator! The basic rule in choosing an offshore bank is to go for one that has no offices or employees in your ‘home’ country. Another basic rule is “you don’t know until you go” – in other words, if you want to open a serious Swiss or other offshore bank account, get on a plane!

I mentioned above that affected account holders should be taking “urgent steps to put things right.” What are those steps? The fact is there are plenty of ways you can achieve the goals you are seeking, serious asset protection, and full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. Those are topics we frequently write about here in The Q Wealth Report, and you will find some starting points in my Practical Offshore Banking Guide 2009 which is available right now for free download in the Members’ Section. The Practical Offshore Banking Guide includes some offshore banking notes especially for US citizens and residents, and another section especially for European Union residents and citizens.

Q Wealth Report is your resource for offshore asset protection, banking privacy, and wealth creation information. A subscription costs just $87 per year, and if you don’t feel  our service is worth a lot more than that once you have signed up, you are covered by our full no-quibble money back guarantee! Plus, as soon as you sign up you gain instant access to our members section to download a series of free reports including the Practical Offshore Banking Guide 2009. What are you waiting for? Join today!