Tribune De Geneve | May 21 2017:
Switzerland-United States The question of the confidentiality of bank data is not settled, one year from the entry into force of the automatic exchange of information.
According to the president of the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) Herbert Scheidt, there is a risk that data from foreign customers with an account in Switzerland will reach the US secret services.
The confidentiality of this information is not resolved. However, the automatic exchange of information should take effect next year.
The SBA has made several requests for clarification on this subject at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Herbert Scheidt said Sunday in an interview with the German-language newspaper “NZZ am Sonntag”.
The President of the SBA refers to the data of foreign customers benefiting from a bank account in Switzerland.
For the Swiss and German binationals, it is essential that the data collected are used for the sole purpose of controlling taxes. He added that it was not impossible for the data of the Swiss to reach the United States, because the Unisys company in charge to harvest them is based on American soil.
There are currently no guarantees from the OECD in this regard. But the SBA has clear expectations on this sensitive issue, according to Herbert Scheidt. And if a security breach is detected, Switzerland will be able to block the provision of additional information.
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