New! We have created a special website about Swiss bank accounts with hundreds of pages of information. Micheloud & Cie, a well-known Swiss firm, owns both websites. Click to visit www.swiss-bank-accounts.com

The people of Switzerland feel strongly about respecting the private sphere and see bank secrecy as an important aspect of this respect. Bank secrecy exists in various forms in most countries throughout the world, although its impact in several countries has been considerably limited through the introduction of provisions that give a great number of people and authorities the right to access its citizens' banking information. The history of Swiss bank secrecy demonstrates that its intensification and entrenchment in the law had been sought during a period in which many States exhibited totalitarian tendencies that gave precedence to State interests over the interest of its citizens. The liberal approach in effect in Switzerland and in other countries simply cannot accept a State with such an prying eye into the lives of its citizens.

Other pages of interest:

What does bank secrecy cover? The limits to Swiss bank secrecy The consequences of Swiss bank secrecy violation