If only...

Earlier this year, I shared with you news of the growing clampdown on secret bank accounts in Switzerland used by the world’s wealthy to hide their money and avoid paying taxes.

Now it seems the rich, determined not to be outwitted by authorities,  are stashing their dough in Singapore and Hong Kong in secret Asian bank accounts. And not just Asians – but well-heeled Americans and Europeans hiding out from tax authorities in their own countries.

According to the New York Times and Ronen Palan, a professor of political economy and an offshore finance specialist at the University of Birmingham in England, “all the evidence suggests that Singapore is making a concerted effort to replace Switzerland as the global centre for private banking.”

In 2007, the U.S. Justice Department launched a criminal investigation into several Swiss banks for selling private banking services to wealthy Americans that allowed them to evade taxes.

Last year, the biggest Swiss Bank UBS paid $780 million to settle the case. It later agreed to front up with the names of 4,450 American clients to the Internal Revenue Service.  Gotcha!

-          Genevieve Westcott, Host, “Money Talks”