American Swiss Foundation

By Martin Naville, CEO of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce and Member of the Swiss Advisory Council of the American Swiss Foundation

In the last 6 months, Switzerland has abandoned the traditional Swiss banking secret.  It finds itself in a bitter fight with France over stolen data.  It has voted to become the only nation on earth to have a constitutional ban on the construction of minarets.  One of its major banks has been caught performing illegal transactions by the IRS, and the other major bank has been slapped with the largest fine ever levied against a foreign bank (over $ 500 million) for violations of US foreign exchange laws.  Has Switzerland lost its guiding principles of openness, fairness, neutrality and business drive?

By Martin Naville, CEO of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce and Member of the Swiss Advisory Council of the American Swiss Foundation

With the agreement between UBS and the IRS -- supported by a diplomatic agreement between Switzerland and the U.S. -- and with the signing of the new Double Taxation Treaty (DTT) between our countries, two critical issues have been resolved in the U.S.-Swiss relationship.