banking secrecy
Hidden account information
Banking secrecy is the legal protection of client information by financial institutions.
Banks in jurisdictions with strong secrecy laws—Switzerland being the most famous—are prohibited from disclosing account details to outside parties, including foreign governments.
Critics argue it enables tax evasion and money laundering; defenders frame it as financial privacy.
The investigation stalled because of Swiss banking secrecy.
- offshore bankingForeign financial account services
- numbered accountBank holding identified by digits
- OECD guidelinesWealthy nations' policy recommendations
- confidentialityQuality of protecting secrets
- tax havensLow-levy jurisdictions for assets
hidden assets · secure transactions · discretion · private wealth · data protection · encryption · privacy laws · Panama Papers · international treaties · economic sanctions · fiduciary duty · restricted access · trust · fraud prevention · professional ethics · beneficial ownership · money laundering · dirty money
- Swiss inventionsmilk chocolate, fondue set, muesli, emmental, gruyere
- offshore financetax havens, tax haven, offshore banking, private banking, Swiss banking
- Offshore Taxationtax haven, offshore banking, offshore finance, tax avoidance, zero tax
- microstate economiestax haven, tax havens, offshore banking, offshore finance, gambling revenue
- bankingATM, ATMs, account, accounts, deposit
- SwitzerlandBern, Geneva, Zurich, Basel, Lausanne
banking secrecyfinancial transparency
Open disclosure of monetary dealings
open banking · full disclosure · transparency · data transparency · open books
banking secrecymandatory reporting
Legal duty to notify authorities
financial regulation · financial oversight · whistleblower protections
bank, banks, banked, banker, bankers, secret, secrets, secretive, secretively