[$tinkle]

or at least that's how it will be sold: U.S. doesn't want to escalate bank row: Swiss official

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration is not interested in escalating a dispute with Switzerland over bank secrecy laws, Switzerland's top justice official said on Monday after meeting with her U.S. counterparts.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and his deputy David Margolis "expressed their willingness to negotiate with Switzerland, to discuss with us, and especially in the UBS case," Swiss Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf told reporters.

"The United States is not intent on having an escalation but they are willing to work for a resolution," Widmer-Schlumpf said Margolis told her.

Although she met with Holder, he could not discuss the UBS case because he represented UBS before joining the Obama administration and recused himself from the U.S. investigation into charges UBS helped U.S. customers avoid tax laws.

UBS, the world's largest banker to the rich, agreed last month to pay a $780 million fine and disclose the identity of about 300 of its U.S. clients to avert criminal charges that Swiss regulators said would have put the bank's existence at risk.

But a day after the agreement, U.S. tax authorities said they were still pursuing a civil lawsuit against UBS, seeking to access the data of another 52,000 Americans they say are hiding about $14.8 billion in assets in Swiss bank accounts.

The suit threatens to undermine the vaunted secrecy of Swiss banks. Eugen Haltiner, who heads Swiss regulator FINMA, has equated the dispute between Berne and Washington to an "economic war," fueled by the spiraling financial crisis.

The dispute will likely deepen if the U.S. Congress passes legislation to crack down on tax avoidance schemes estimated to deprive the U.S. government of more than $100 billion a year.

 

[dante]

or at least that's how it will be sold: U.S. doesn't want to escalate bank row: Swiss official

drinking already this morning I see? I don't see anything in there about confiscating UBS funds...

Interesting math, though, $15b divided amongst 52,000 people means an average of almost $300k per person. It's no wonder the US Gov't is looking to make sure that it gets its money...

 

[stoney]

Dante,
This has been getting attention for a while. It will likely happen in the end. The Swiss have very few exportables and those they do have, are in large share delivered to the US market. A few properly placed tariffs on those Swiss based imports can cripple large parts of their economy and they know it (look at the Rotherfort cheese tariff, crushed a market). The Swiss have very little push back here, and risk being deemed an illegal tax shelter by the US govt., which would likely be piggybacked on by the Euro states.
Plus, the US Govt. can simply withdraw the international bank operating permit given to UBS and other Swiss banks that allows them to operate in the US.
We hold all of the cards here, UBS and the Swiss will eventually lose this battle.
-Stone

 

[$tinkle]

drinking already this morning I see? I don't see anything in there about confiscating UBS funds...

or at least that's how it will be sold:
or at least that's how it will be sold:
or at least that's how it will be sold:

or at least that's how it will be sold:

slippery slopists have newz to sell, and miles to go before they sleep

 

[$tinkle]

from the "it takes a thief" files: Geithner Pledges ‘Ambitious’ Crackdown on Tax Havens

March 4 (Bloomberg) -- Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the U.S. government will mount an “ambitious” program to crack down on companies that use offshore locales to avoid paying taxes.

Closing loopholes and hunting tax evaders are especially important at a time when the economy is deteriorating and the government is running a record budget deficit, Geithner told the Senate Finance Committee today in Washington.

“We’re going to have a much more ambitious effort to deal with offshore tax havens,” Geithner said in response to questions from the panel. Allowing companies and individuals to escape paying their share “isn’t fair, particularly given the scale of the fiscal challenges we inherited,” he said.