What’s so special about Swiss bank and why does everyone hold it to the highest point if they want to hide their money? How does it work differently from other banks in other countries?
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It doesn’t work that differently anymore (basically, post 9/11). There was a huge overhaul of inter-country banking cooperation in the wake of the War on Terror to try to make sure terrorists weren’t hiding their money.
Before that, the big deal with Swiss banks was that they wouldn’t reveal anything to anybody about anything. In most countries, the police/government (or the police/government of other nations if they have a cooperative treaty) could freeze a bank account, or ask who owned it and what their address was, or request transaction records (all with a warrant from a judge, typically). Switzerland didn’t do that…they wouldn’t disclose anything to anyone other than the account owner. It was very secure & very anonymous money storage. This was awfully handy for people who didn’t want their money found…often, but not always, for unlawful reasons in their home country.
The key difference between the Swiss and ‘regular’ banks was secrecy. This secrecy could take several forms, but the common denominator was that it was a federal crime in Switzerland for a bank to reveal the identity of a client to anyone, including the state.
Consequently, if was a great option to park money for lots of people looking to skirt taxation or seizure, which is why this was the preferred option of dictators and criminals of all stripes, including Nazi Germany officials, who parked a lot of money and gold that they stole from Jews during WW2. This actually helped, because it made it harder, image-wise, for Switzerland to fight off the huge pressure from the US and other countries to reveal the names of account holders, but
Now, Swiss banks were far from the only ones to offer this feature and some still do in places like Singapore, the British Isles (I think) and the Cayman Islands, among others.
After a series of major tax-evasion investigations spearheaded by the US and followed afterward by the EU and then by most of the world, the number of offshore banks that offer complete secrecy has dwindled, but they still exist, and they mostly cater to people who can afford their high fees, as secrecy is expensive!
Switzerland also has a tradition of neutrality during any conflict. This usually means any assets there can still be accessed. Russia’s war in Ukraine is actually the first time they have frozen any assets citing “the unprecedented military attack by Russia on a sovereign European state.”
Monero works the same way as the Swiss bank before.
Its even safer. Noone can force monero to reveal data.
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