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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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!
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