Switzerland (July 06, 2014): Banks in Switzerland have told Indian authorities to send requests that could be termed as “justifiable”. Banks in Switzerland said that they follow strict rules and the requests from Indian authorities must be “properly justified”.
The Association of Foreign Banks in Switzerland, an over four-decade old grouping, is also of the view that a clear and transparent policy can help in dispelling “apprehensions” and the “conjectures” should not be allowed to dominate the public opinion.
To bring back so-termed “black money” stashed away overseas, Indian state has recently made a fresh request to Switzerland to seek bank details of such entities.
“India should be aware that its reputation in Switzerland as a country with a proper legal system and functioning rule of law has been seriously hampered as of late – for reasons not related to financial matters. But the mistrust spills over in other matters,” the Zurich-based association’s General Secretary Martin Maurer said.
Indian money in Swiss banks rose 43 percent last year to close to 2.03 billion Swiss francs (Rs 14,000 crore), as per the latest data from Switzerland’s central banking authority Swiss National Bank (SNB).