1. Swiss bank accounts are only for millionaires
This is not true. The majority of our clients are not major manufacturers or movie stars, but everyday people (business people, computer engineers, civil servants, etc.). Swiss banks are no longer only for stars.
You can open a Swiss bank account with a deposit of only 5,000 Swiss francs. We even offer accounts with no minimum balance.
2. Money invested in Switzerland yields no interest
Nothing could be more untrue. You can invest your money worldwide from your account in Switzerland through investment funds, bonds, the stock market, the purchase of metal values, raw materials, derivatives and many other types of investments. Swiss bankers are among the best finance managers in the world, so it comes as no surprise that they manage over 35% of offshore holdings.
3. It's impossible to open an account in Switzerland by correspondence
This is not true. Most of the accounts that we offer can be opened by correspondence as long as you comply with our opening procedures and provide us with the necessary documents. What is more, your banking relations can be conducted by correspondence, using the telephone, Internet banking, bank transfer and credit cards. That said, we encourage our customers to meet with their banker at least once in order to get acquainted and see where their money is held.
4. Swiss bank accounts are very expensive to maintain
This is not true. Most of the accounts we open don't charge a cent in annual fees. Even if you would like additional services such as retained correspondence or numbered banking relations, the annual fees are very reasonable.
5. It is difficult to close a Swiss bank account
On the contrary. You can close your account in Switzerland whenever you wish and without any restriction. You will pay no financial penalty. If need be, you will just have to realize your investments. Contrary to many onshore banking practices, your money is not held hostage by Swiss banks.
6. Swiss bank accounts attract only criminals and dictators
Not true! The vast majority of Swiss bank account holders are honest people who want to keep their savings in a country renowned for its stability. Swiss banks are extremely cautious regarding politicians who wish to open an account and they systematically refuse to accept any money that is of dubious origin or poorly founded.
7. Numbered accounts are anonymous
There are no anonymous accounts in Switzerland. A numbered account is an account that is identified solely by a number, rather than a name, in order to preserve the strictest confidentiality possible during teller transactions or bank transfers. Only the bank manager and a few select people know the identity of numbered account holders.
Global banking giant HSBC yesterday said "disenchantment" with Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group had helped it recruit customers north of the border as it reported a doubling in first-half profits to $11 billion (£7bn).
The bank said it had witnessed a 44% increase in the number of small businesses switching to it in Scotland.
Total revenue north of the border also rose by 23% against a 7% fall in its wider European business, with HSBC saying it had filled a gap left by other banks.
It had particular success in Aberdeen, Alan Keir, chairman of HSBC’s Scottish advisory board said, with the city’s "micro- economy" helping it escape much of the recession.
Keir told The Herald: "In Scotland it is going extremely well indeed. I think there are significant opportunities for us there."
Elsewhere, HSBC executive director Stuart Gulliver said gross new lending to what the bank classes as SMEs – those with turnover of greater than £25 milion – was up by £1.4bn, or 38%, in the first six months of the year against the same period of 2009.
But he acknowledged: "Net lending is more or less flat. About the same number of people repaid us as took new lending."
Despite this, HSBC’s profit for the period easily beat analysts’ expectations of around $9bn, with pre-tax earnings coming in at $9.6bn – an increase of 30%.
The key driver was a fall in loan impairment charges and other provisions to $7.5bn, some $6.4bn less than the charge reported this time last year.
Chief executive Michael Geoghegan said: "I hope we are through the worst for loan impairment charges."
The company was profitable in every region apart from North America, where pre-tax earnings narrowed by $2bn to $80m as bad debts eased.
Asia, meanwhile, accounted for $5.9bn, or 58%, of the bank’s overall profit.
Geoghegan, who relocated to Hong Kong in January, said: "Asia remains the bedrock of our profitability."
HSBC last month boosted its presence in the region by purchasing a retail and corporate banking business in India from RBS.
While Asia continues to be strong, Geoghegan said the global outlook was "uncertain".
"Whether the West can sustain growth will remain unclear for some time," he explained. "We remain bullish on emerging markets. Led by Asia, they will continue to drive world growth."
He added: "Until the US feels confident about its economy the rest of the world will have to have its doubts."
HSBC’s investment bank, meanwhile, made a profit of $5.6bn, its second-best half ever, but down 13% from a year ago.
Gulliver, chief executive of the division, said that $2.5bn in employee expenses booked by the arm was inflated by a $350m payroll tax to pay bonuses earlier this year.
He added that investment banking pay was down to 21% of revenues from 24% a year ago even though HSBC had hired 400 new investment bankers this year.
Elsewhere, HSBC’s Tier 1 capital ratio was 11.5% at the end of June, well above its target range.
The bank will review its aim of a return on capital of 15% to 19% once regulators decide how much of a cushion banks should carry.
While Geoghegan warned that HSBC’s extra capital would depress returns, he said it could still achieve the lower end of its targets over the medium term.
He added that an agreement on banking reform by the G20 nations would help the market.
"A level playing field is beneficial for all global markets," he said.
"That’s why all G20 countries must participate according to the same rules."
HSBC’s results sent shares in the company soaring 34p, or 5.3%, to 680p.
The other banks followed.
RBS closed up 2.14p, or 4.3%, at 52.1p, above the break-even level for the Government’s 83% stake.
Lloyds finished at 72.44p, up 3.18p or 4.6%.
Barclays closed up 11.15p, or 3.4%, at 343.95p.
HSBC provide offshore banking for customers in over 200 countries and territories
What is offshore banking?
Offshore banking is a convenient, safe and potentially tax-efficient way to grow your wealth. An offshore bank is simply a bank located outside your country of residence, usually in a low tax jurisdiction.
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James Bond enters a Swiss bank in Spain and is frisked before he can meet with the banker. In the "Da Vinci Code," a triangular-shaped key activates a robotic arm that pulls a safety deposit box from the wall in a Swiss bank in Paris to ultimately reveal the secret to Christianity. The funny thing is neither of these scenes would actually happen in a real Swiss bank. There is no such robotic system and, while Swiss banks do have security, they don't search their clients before letting them access accounts. Most of us have formed ideas about what Swiss bank accounts are and how they work based on scenes like these that we've seen in the movies, read in books, or maybe even heard in the news. In other words, most of us have a distorted or mostly unrealistic view of what it really means to have the prestigious Swiss bank account. Let's dig deeper into Swiss Bank Accounts and see how they started, who can have an account and unlock the mystery.
Swiss bank accounts aren't just for millionaires, criminals or government officials trying to hide ill-gotten wealth, or celebrities protecting their assets from former spouses. They're available to anyone and lots of average people have Swiss bank accounts. People who live in countries with unstable governments and banks in particular often turn to Swiss banks because of their security and privacy.
But let's face it, most of us really just want to be able to say, "Oh, I'll wire the money from my Swiss bank account."
Privacy
Your relationship with your Swiss bank can be compared to doctor/patient confidentiality or the private information you might share with an attorney. Swiss law forbids bankers to disclose the existence of your account or any other information about it without your consent (except for certain circumstances, which we'll discuss later). Where the similarity ends is when that privacy is violated. Whereas in the United States, if your doctor or attorney violates your confidence you must begin legal action; in Switzerland, if a banker divulges information about a bank account without permission, immediate prosecution is begun by the Swiss public attorney. Bankers face up to six months in prison and a fine of up to 50,000 Swiss francs. And, you have the option of suing the bank for damages. Needless to say, Swiss banks are very careful about protecting your privacy.
The only exceptions to the Swiss banking privacy rule are criminal activities such as drug trafficking, insider trading or organized crime, which we'll talk more about later.
Low Risk
So privacy is a big deal if you have money you don't want other people to know about, and unless you're a criminal it's highly unlikely anyone can ever find out about your account. For example, doctors who might be sued for malpractice might have money in a Swiss account to prevent them being totally wiped out in the event of lawsuit. Unethical, yes, but it happens. Really, anyone can have assets that they want to protect from attack. Sometimes, though, privacy isn't the main reason people want a Swiss bank account. Switzerland has had an extremely stable economy and infrastructure for many years and hasn't been at war with another country since 1505. Swiss bankers are also highly trained in investing and know how to grow your money.
Increasing your wealth means little if your money isn't protected. So, how safe is your money in a Swiss bank? Depositor protection in Switzerland is governed by the Swiss Bankers Association's (SBA) self-regulatory Depositor Protection Agreement and, since July 1, 2004, was also codified into the Swiss Banking Act with a few additional requirements that significantly strengthened depositor protection in Switzerland [Source: SwissBanking.org]. The revised Depositors' Protection Agreement covers all deposits and is also applicable to non-bank securities dealers. Protecting depositors is vital in maintaining public confidence in the Swiss banking system and, in order to strengthen this confidence, the SBA had drawn up a self-regulatory Depositor Protection Agreement with its member banks in 1984. This agreement guarantees that, in the event of a bank failure, depositors will rapidly receive their legally privileged claims. As an additional safety measure, Swiss law demands high capital adequacy. Swiss banks can therefore certainly be counted amongst the safest in the world.
In fact, the Swiss franc is considered one of the world's premier currencies with virtually zero inflation and has been historically backed by at least 40 percent gold reserves. Swiss banks are also known to have very sophisticated investment services and Internet banking.
Citibank, a major international bank, is the consumer banking arm of financial services giant Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, later First National City Bank of New York. As of March 2010, Citigroup is the third largest bank holding company in the United States by domestic deposits, after Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase.
Citibank has retail banking operations in more than 100 countries and territories around the world. More than half of its 1,400 offices are in the United States, mostly in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco/Silicon Valley, and Miami. More recently, Citibank has expanded its operations in the Boston, Philadelphia, Houston, Dallas, and Washington D.C. metropolitan areas, albeit with a mixed record of success.
It was reported that Citigroup executives were pleased with the performance of the Boston branches, but were less impressed with the Philadelphia experiment, according to a person familiar with the situation.
On September 24, 2009, The Wall Street Journal reported that Citi planned to narrow the focus of Citigroup's U.S. branch network to just six major metropolitan areas, including New York, Washington, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles, where Citi has a substantial presence but ranks no higher than No. 3 in deposits. The article also noted that Citi could abandon or scale back where it is an also-ran, including Boston, Philadelphia and parts of Texas, according to people with knowledge of the discussions.
In addition to the standard banking transactions, Citibank offers insurance, credit card and investment products. Their online services division is among the most successful in the field,[citation needed] claiming about 15 million users.
As a result of the Global financial crisis of 2008–2009 and huge losses in the value of its subprime mortgage assets, Citibank was rescued by the U.S. government under plans agreed for Citigroup. On November 23, 2008, in addition to initial aid of $25 billion, a further $25 billion was invested in the corporation together with guarantees for risky assets amounting to $306 billion
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5. It is difficult to close a Swiss bank account
