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Swiss bank secrecy prohibits Swiss banks from revealing the existence of your account or disclosing information about it without your consent.

What does bank secrecy cover?
Bank secrecy covers all your business relations with the bank.

• It is not limited in time. Bank secrecy protects all contacts with a view to opening an account, even if the account is never actually opened. Similarly, bank secrecy remains in effect once your account is closed.
• It concerns all the people who work for the bank or are in contact with it.

What are the consequences for a banker who violates bank secrecy?
Violation of bank secrecy is punishable by imprisonment of the banker, fine and payment of damages.

What are the limits of bank secrecy?
Exceptions to bank secrecy are strictly regulated by law. They concern:

• Criminal matters such as drug trafficking or gun smuggling. Thus, bank secrecy is not an obstacle in the fight against serious crime. The majority of cases for which bank secrecy is lifted fall under this category.
• Private matters such as inheritance and divorce. In practice, however, bank secrecy is rarely lifted in such cases.

Why Swiss bank secrecy?
The Swiss population has a liberal notion of the state and attaches great importance to respect of the private sphere.

Other pages of interest:

The consequences of Swiss bank secrecy violation The limits to Swiss bank secrecy Why Swiss bank secrecy?