Wegelin closure signals sea change for Swiss banks.
The oldest bank in Switzerland and 13th oldest in the world - Wegelin & Co. is up for closure after pleading guilty before a New York court to helping US citizens avoid taxes. It is the first non-American bank to plead guilty to tax evasion charges in the United States.
Since January 2012 the bank no longer had any significant assets or operations anyway, but it formally ceased to operate as of early 2013.
It admitted to having helped US clients avoid paying taxes on assets worth at least $1.2bn in the period from 2002 to 2010.
The bank’s unfortunate faith is likely to put the entire Swiss financial industry to high alert, since a conduct of the sort is quite common.
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