BERN, SWITZERLAND – The lower house of the Swiss parliament Tuesday rejected the government’s proposed urgent law known as Lex USA. The vote was a strong 126 to 67 rejection, with two abstentions at the end of three hours of debate. The next step is for the upper house to vote Wednesday, followed by a [...]
I spy, with my little eye …
June 17, 2013 by
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Spies are suddenly everywhere in the news: over in Hong Kong we have Edward Snowden hiding out from the US government whose CIA spying secrets he made public last week. In Switzerland the president, Ueli Maurer, told the Sunday German language media that if Snowden’s allegations about the CIA in Geneva are [...]
Switzerland eases towards more open tax reporting
June 17, 2013 by
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss government said late Friday that it is ready to consider a move towards the automatic exchange of information (AEI) for tax reporting purposes, but it put off until September a debate by the Federal Council on the experts’ report that recommends this. The remarks were made in the context of [...]
Swiss banks & US law: lower house committee says no
June 14, 2013 by
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss government’s efforts to push an urgent law through parliament, to allow Swiss banks to sign up to a programme set out by the US government, suffered a setback late Thursday. The lower house committee charged with studying it voted 15-9 against the house debating the law. The sticking point was [...]
Swiss upper house yes to banks-US law, final vote 24-15 (update 2)
June 12, 2013 by
Amendments: Inquiry into past 12 years banking behaviour, reports on US investigations New details: Finance minister says cost to banks will be CHF5-10 billion, no bailouts BERN, SWITZERLAND – The upper house of the Swiss parliament has accepted the Federal Council’s urgent law covering banks and investigations by the US government, but only after a [...]
PostFinance’s 6000+ Americans could feel US heat, too
June 11, 2013 by
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland’s post office at the end of June takes the first major step in a five-year programme that will see it denationalized, although the state will remain the majority shareholder – and as part of the shift, its financial arm, PostFinance, will become a bank. The change could have an impact on [...]
Update: parliament votes a second “no” on US & banks law
June 11, 2013 by
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Late Monday night the economic committee of Switzerland’s upper house of parliament voted 7-6 against an urgent law that would allow Swiss banks under investigation by the US Department of Justiceto share more information with the DOJ. The vote is the second “no” since the Federal Council presented the law 29 May, [...]
Swiss banks tell Senate they want the urgent bank law
June 10, 2013 by
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Swiss banks told a committee of the upper house of parliament in Bern Monday that it would like to see an urgent law proposed by the Federal Council passed. The economic committee is holding hearings that began last week and that will continue at least this evening. The outcome remains uncertain, of [...]
Whistleblower Snowden’s Geneva days subject of speculation (Update)
June 10, 2013 by
Update 15:45 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Edward Snowden’s realization that he wasn’t happy with the US government’s phone tapping programme, and that he should do something about it, came to him while he was working under diplomatic cover for the CIA in Geneva, according to his own account – but at the US Mission and other [...]
Swiss vote to keep new asylum law, refuse direct gov’t election
June 9, 2013 by
BERN, SWITZERLAND - The Swiss will not be electing their 7-member government directly: the vote on it Sunday 9 June was a 76.3 percent no. And the government’s 2012 revision of the asylum law was supported, with 78.5 percent of voters accepting it, in a sharp defeat for the NGOs and political left who have [...]
