Swiss lawmakers urge new rules for banks as US tax row heats up

Feb 1, 2012, 16:22 GMT

Bern, Switzerland - Swiss lawmakers urged the government on Wednesday to introduce new rules for banks to resolve a dispute with the United States, which is investigating several Swiss banks over secret accounts belonging to US tax evaders.

'There finally needs to be a legal provision saying that it will no longer be allowed to park untaxed money in Switzerland,' Hildegard Faessler of the Social Democratic Party was quoted as saying by the Tages-Anzeiger daily.

The Swiss government said on Tuesday it had handed US authorities encrypted data on the activities of banks that had served US citizens suspected of tax evasion. However, it said the United States would be handed a code to the data only after a tax deal was reached.

A Swiss finance ministry spokesman told dpa on Wednesday that the data did not contain account details and that the data only gave US authorities 'insights into business activities' of the banks.

US prosecutors have threatened to take legal action against Swiss banks, which have accounts of wealthy American tax evaders.

The US investigations prompted the sale last week of Wegelin, Switzerland's oldest bank, to the Swiss banking group Raiffeisen, showcasing the urgency for a tax deal.

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