Patrick Raaflaub, head of Switzerland’s financial regulator FINMA, has pleaded Swiss bank to cooperate with the US tax officials and reveal undeclared assets from American clients.
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In the Friday edition of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper, Raaflaub, said if a bank had any doubt it had run afoul of US law, it should sign up to the scheme and tell FINMA before December 9. Banks have until the end of 2013 to inform the US authorities.
He warned that banks which choose to shirk the US program "must expect to be involved in a conflict dragged out over years."
"This would be more expensive in the long run and would provide considerably less certainty to the firms, their employees, and clients than the option of a rapid conclusion to this legal dispute," he added.
FINMA hasn’t disclosed the number of banks to come forward so far, or the status of ongoing discussions with the US.
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By GlobalDataThe Swiss-US deal does not cover banks already under US criminal investigation, which include Credit Suisse and Julius Baer.
