August 20, 2009

This Could Be Interesting...

UBS to name 4,450 US clients in tax-evasion probe
Hours after the announcement, the Swiss government said it was selling its nine percent stake in the ailing bank.


1 comment:

Bukko Boomeranger said...

It's already affecting me, and I don't even do business with UBS. We got a call from our gnome at the other big Swiss bank a few months ago telling us that if we didn't get our deposit total over U.S. $1 million (which we no can do), they were either going to cut us loose or make us register as Aussies. Your country's regs on overseas investments are stickier than the US's used to be, G., unless your name ifs Frank Lowy. All our money was obtained legally, and we haven't MADE any profits to pay taxes upon in this downturn, so we have nothing to fear from the law. But we're still being treated like pariahs, well in advance of this settlement with a different bank! And it used to work so well for us, the advantage of having a foot in both worlds.

Anyway, I might have to do a dash to Zurich to settle accounts when I leave work here, before going to Canada. Too bad, because I still haven't seen New Zedland, and I was planning a quick trip across the Taz. Fecking Swiss, getting in the way of my holidays!

I know, get out the bloody violins and play a sad tune for me, eh? I realise I'm lucky to have such options. In a way, this could be a good thing. We're getting even more paranoid than we used to be, and that was pretty damned spooked to begin with. I don't trust the banking system any more. If the Swiss turn on their customers, who can you have faith in? We might wind up with everything we have buried in the dirt somewhere, which would be a good thing if there's a massive banking collapse with seizure of accounts. Lucky we have so many countries to choose where to do our spadework.

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