Switzerland

India has approached Switzerland for banking details of at least ten persons and entities suspected to have kept untaxed money in Swiss banks. These include two listed textile companies, while others are associated with an art curator and his carpet export business.
There are also some companies incorporated in tax havens like Panama and British Virgin Islands. Most of the companies and individuals are associated with a carpet export business and an art curator with operations across several countries.

Credit Suisse extended its global charm offensive on Monday insisting it has "zero tolerance" for tax evasion after hundreds of its clients and top employees became the target of an international fraud probe.

The Zurich-based bank took out multiple adverts in British newspapers over the weekend as part of a damage-limitation effort after law enforcement agencies descended on three of its European offices Friday in a coordinated raid related to a tax evasion and money laundering probe.

"Credit Suisse applies a strict zero tolerance policy and wishes to conduct business with clients that have paid their taxes and fully declared their assets," Monday’s ad said. The bank complies "with all applicable laws" in areas where it operates, it added.

Talks on the post-Brexit relationship between Switzerland and the UK are underway, according to the Swiss Federal Council. On March 31, Swiss Federal Councillor Johann N Schneider-Ammann met the UK’s Trade Secretary Liam Fox for a working meeting on Swiss-UK relations after the UK leaves the EU.

As part of the Federal Council’s "Mind the Gap" strategy, it will seek to reach a post-Brexit follow-up agreement with the UK as swiftly as possible. According to the Council, Fox said this was in the UK’s interests and that reaching such an arrangement with Switzerland is a priority. Schneider-Ammann and Fox agreed to meet on a regular basis.

Foreign nationals temporarily admitted in Switzerland, F permit holders, will no longer receive social assistance in the Canton of Zurich in the next future, but will only have the aid in favour of asylum seekers. The Cantonal Parliament today adopted a revision of te law, fought by the Left parties. The City of Zurich assesses the possibility of a referendum.

With this decision, the Zurich parliament re-establishes the situation in force until 2011. In this way the people whose asylum application has been rejected but who are temporarily admitted to Switzerland because they can not come back home, due to the dangerous situation in their country or other reasons, will not be officially considered as recognized refugees.

FIFA has sent 1,300 pages of internal investigation reports into suspected bribery and corruption to Switzerland’s attorney general. However, the footballl organisation said Friday it was legally barred from publishing the full reports or commenting on the evidence or conclusions.

Launched soon after the dramatic arrest of several top officials at a luxury Zurich hotel before the FIFA Congress in May 2015,
the 22-month review, conducted by American law firm Quinn Emmanuel and their Swiss counterparts NKF, reviewed more than 2.5 million documents and interviewed dozens of witness before revealing its findings.

The Swiss Federal Government intends to adapt the federal laws on the acquisition of real estate land by persons abroad, known as Lex Koller.
It focuses on the possibility that foreign investments – also by individuals immigrating to Switzerland – continue to drive up real estate prices in Switzerland. On March 10, 2017, the goverment opened the consultation process ending on June 30, 2017, by presenting the draft legislation.
The two most far reaching proposals have already been rejected by the parliament in 2014.

Data released on Thursday revealed that the Swiss KOF leading indicator surged slightly over the month of March, reconfirming the strong February data and suggesting a better-than-expected growth of the country’s economy. The KOF Swiss Economic Institute reported the KOF index added 0.7 points last month and held strongly above its long-term average, jumping to 107.6 from a downwardly revised reading of 106.9 registered in the preceding month. The upmove was mainly driven by the positive trend established in the construction sector coupled with favourable signals from the financial sector and domestic private consumption.

Switzerland has started the countdown to a mass-market switch to the ISO 20022 standard for payments harmonisation across all consumer, corporate and bank payments. The digital payments drive will see Swiss financial institutions complete the changeover to the new standard by the end of 2017 and a corporate switch by mid-2018 at the latest.

The EU converted its payment traffic to ISO 20022 back in 2014; countries such as Japan and Australia also make use of ISO 20022. During the harmonization process, all the formats, procedures and payment slips that have evolved over time will be aligned with ISO 20022, a proven and future-proof standard.