NEW YORK TIMES: …For a while, it seemed, the tide had turned against the tradition of secrecy in Zurich, the pristine Alpine city that is a hub of global banking…
Last week, Pierre Condamin-Gerbier, a former banker, faced a Swiss prosecutor on accusations of violating professional secrecy in connection with leaking information to the French authorities. That information forced the resignation last year of a French budget minister who had a secret, undeclared Swiss account at a time when his government was cracking down on tax evasion….
[One veteran banker] said the bankers carried special laptop computers formatted so that information could be wiped out instantly with a few keystrokes, and portable printers to avoid leaving traces elsewhere. They avoided staying in the same luxury hotels, switching if anybody recognized them or called them by name. He said he cut the name of the bank off receipts. Customers called from pay phones, using code names… (more)
