Tag Archives: Switzerland

Zurich bank cuts Cuba’s last Swiss franc channel

Posted on by

“Zurich’s cantonal bank is halting all transfers to Cuba starting next month to avoid activities deemed in violation of a US embargo on the communist-ruled island.  Bank spokeswoman Evelyne Brönnimann told AFP that new rules meant ZKB must now attest to its banking partners in the United States that its activities are in line with the US Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) rules. ‘If this is not the case, the United States can take actions against the banks like freezing their holdings,’ the bank statement said.  The head of the Swiss-Cuban Chamber of Commerce harshly criticised ZKB’s decision, lamenting that the bank was removing the only banking channel operating in Swiss francs.”

http://www.thelocal.ch/20130416/zurich-bank-cuts-cubas-last-swiss-franc-channel

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

US expat in Switzerland builds North Korean schools

Posted on by

“An American retiree living in Switzerland has gained rare access to the pariah state to build schools in the usually off-limits countryside.  Typhoons had destroyed many North Korean schools, built with mud and hay instead of cement, and Carpenter’s foundation agreed to help, becoming one of few independent aid groups in the country.  Carpenter almost fully funds the North Korean projects himself, and laments the difficulty of convincing donors to pitch in. People ‘don’t see the human angle (or) the hardship,’ he said. ‘North Koreans are human beings who laugh and cry like people everywhere,’ he said, describing people with a ‘good sense of humour’ who are curious about the outside world.”

http://www.thelocal.ch/20130320/us-retiree-in-switzerland-builds-north-korean-schools

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Swiss government blocks arms sales to U.S. over human rights concerns

Posted on by

“The Swiss government regularly comes in for criticism over the export of firearms. A blocked sale of weapon components to the United States has recently put the spotlight on little known aspects of the global arms trade.  The government in January vetoed the deal for handgun parts worth more than CHF400,000 on the grounds that the handguns – assembled in the US for export to Saudi Arabia – could be used to violate human rights.”

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss_news/Blocked_weapon_sales_draws_public_attention.html?rss=true&cid=35449358

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

It’s Official: New OVDP program designed for Swiss Banks

Posted on by

220px-GenIsaacBrock6

“The U.S. is clearly on a mission to confiscate assets throughout the world. In the beginning, there was OVDP for individuals.  Now we have OVDP for banks.  Coming soon, OVDP for financial advisors.  Soon, we will all become Whistleblowers.  The solution to this is for the U.S. to simply absorb all the other sovereign nations of the world. Once we become one country, there will be no more ‘offshore accounts’. But, how would fines be imposed then?  Conclusion and message to U.S. citizens abroad … You better enter OVDP before your bank does!”

http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2013/08/30/its-official-new-ovdp-program-designed-for-swiss-banks/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Swiss banks face hefty fines under US tax deal

Posted on by

“The deal offers individual Swiss banks the opportunity to avoid US prosecution if they agree to pay ‘substantial fines’, disclose all of their cross-border activities, provide details on the accounts of US citizens, and give information on the sources and destinations of transferred funds in relation to secret American accounts.  Each bank will set its own non-prosecution agreement or deferred-prosecution agreement with the US authorities under those terms.  The fines will be assessed at 20-50 percent of the aggregate value of any undeclared accounts held by Americans, depending on the time they accounts were open — before 2009 or since then.”

http://www.thelocal.ch/20130830/swiss-banks-set-to-pay-hefty-fines-under-us-tax-deal

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Global Cities of the Super-Rich

Posted on by

“The report also ranks the global cities that matter the most to these high-net-worth individuals, based on four categories: economic activity, political power, quality of life, and knowledge and influence. Overall, New York and London top this list as well, followed by Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney, Washington, D.C., Toronto, and Zurich. This list is similar to my own ranking of the world’s most economically powerful cities. The cities are also ranked on each category individually, and the table below (from the report) charts the leaders in each of the four categories.”

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2013/03/global-cities-super-rich/4951/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Greek journalist in limbo over Swiss bank leaks

Posted on by

“The document contains the names of more than 2,000 wealthy Greek HSBC bank account holders in Switzerland and was used to pursue suspected tax evaders. It was originally leaked by an HSBC employee in Geneva and passed to Greece in 2010 by France’s then finance minister Christine Lagarde, who now heads the International Monetary Fund.  Greek authorities treated it as stolen data and failed to pursue the case.  The 46-year-old was acquitted in November but a retrial was ordered after the prosecutor said there were ‘legal faults’ in the original verdict.  George Papaconstantinou is accused of tampering with the ‘Lagarde list’ by deleting the names of three of his relatives from the list.”

http://www.thelocal.ch/20130610/greek-journalist-in-limbo-over-swiss-bank-leaks

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Swiss lawyer uses $500,000 painting for bail in US tax fraud case

Posted on by

“Tax lawyer Edgar Paltzer used French master Charles-Francois Daubigny’s 1862 work ‘La gardeuse de chevres’ (The goat herder) to pay part of his $2-million bail in New York, where he has been detained since April on tax fraud charges.  ‘To escape from the claws of American justice and see their families, some Swiss bankers remortgage their homes or seek help from relatives,’ Swiss newspaper Le Matin reported.  ‘Zurich lawyer Edgar Paltzer provided a 19th century canvas.’  The bail conditions allow the lawyer to leave the United States and return to Switzerland as long as he agrees not to fight any future extradition order.”

http://www.thelocal.ch/20130825/swiss-lawyer-uses-art-for-bail-in-fraud-case

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Swiss government unveils new plan to end US tax dispute, bypassing parliament

Posted on by

“The new deal comes after the Swiss parliament in June rejected an initial agreement, which would have temporarily lifted Switzerland’s long-sacrosanct banking secrecy, offering the banks a blanket one-year waiver to reveal details about accounts held by US citizens.  Many lawmakers were outraged that they were not being given access to the details inside, and also expressed concern that it breached Swiss sovereignty.  Instead of a blanket waiver of banking secrecy rules the new deal allows Swiss banks to apply on a case-by-case basis for government permission to cooperate with US investigators. The new deal also does not require parliamentary approval.”

http://www.thelocal.ch/20130828/swiss-unveil-new-plan-to-end-us-tax-dispute

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Why So Many Swiss Binationals Are Giving Up U.S. Citizenship

Posted on by

“Fiscal motives alone aren’t the cause for the dramatic rise in citizens renouncing their U.S. citizenship, argues Anne Hornung-Soukup, a board member for American Citizens Abroad. She is also the wife of Genevan lawyer Douglas Hornung, who defends Swiss bank employees targeted by the American tax authorities.  ‘It’s more the combination of administrative costs, the logistics and the threat of fines that push my compatriots into action,’ she says. Indeed, failing to declare to the IRS is punishable even in the case where there would be no taxation.  ‘An American passport has become toxic’ for binationals, she says, in large part because banks have not reacted well to the new requirements.”

http://www.worldcrunch.com/culture-society/why-so-many-swiss-binationals-are-giving-up-u.s.-citizenship/switzerland-binationals-nationality-fatca-u.s./c3s13134/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet