Julius Baer suffers deja vu moment with theft of data
Source: Agencies |
August 27, 2012, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
SWISS private bank Julius Baer has suffered another theft of data pertaining to clients who may have taken advantage of banking secrecy to dodge taxes in Germany, its chief executive told a newspaper yesterday.
"According to what we know, this is the case," Chief Executive Boris Collardi told the SonntagsZeitung.
"As part of our stepped-up controls and a thorough internal investigation we recently discovered a case of data misuse and were able to identify the alleged thief," he said.
Switzerland and Germany have been locked in a dispute over tax cheats for years, with officials in Germany repeatedly paying for stolen bank account information, to the anger of their Swiss counterparts.
The two countries have signed an agreement to end the dispute and impose a retroactive levy on undeclared funds while preserving secrecy. Yet the agreement must still clear Germany's parliament, where the opposition Social Democrats say it is too lax on tax cheats.
According to the newspaper, the stolen data on clients found its way into the hands of tax investigators in the German state of North Rhine Westphalia, with the thief paid an undisclosed sum.
The suspect, a bank employee working in Zurich, acted alone and has been arrested, the paper said.
Last year, Julius Baer agreed to pay German tax authorities 50 million euros (US$63 million) to close a tax probe. Germany has promised to stop buying leaked bank data naming suspected tax cheats if the tax deal comes into force.
Baer said on August 13 it planned to buy the overseas wealth management business of Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
"According to what we know, this is the case," Chief Executive Boris Collardi told the SonntagsZeitung.
"As part of our stepped-up controls and a thorough internal investigation we recently discovered a case of data misuse and were able to identify the alleged thief," he said.
Switzerland and Germany have been locked in a dispute over tax cheats for years, with officials in Germany repeatedly paying for stolen bank account information, to the anger of their Swiss counterparts.
The two countries have signed an agreement to end the dispute and impose a retroactive levy on undeclared funds while preserving secrecy. Yet the agreement must still clear Germany's parliament, where the opposition Social Democrats say it is too lax on tax cheats.
According to the newspaper, the stolen data on clients found its way into the hands of tax investigators in the German state of North Rhine Westphalia, with the thief paid an undisclosed sum.
The suspect, a bank employee working in Zurich, acted alone and has been arrested, the paper said.
Last year, Julius Baer agreed to pay German tax authorities 50 million euros (US$63 million) to close a tax probe. Germany has promised to stop buying leaked bank data naming suspected tax cheats if the tax deal comes into force.
Baer said on August 13 it planned to buy the overseas wealth management business of Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
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