Those famous Swiss bank accounts may become a thing of the past. Testifying before a Congressional hearing on tax fraud, UBS chief financial officer Mark Branson said that the Swiss bank would no longer provide tax advice and private banking services to US customers.
The Senate’s subcommittee on investigations issued a report today claiming that tax dodges aided by foreign banks cost the Treasury about $100 billion per year. For the past six months the subcommittee has been investigating the practices of UBS and LGT Bank in Liechtenstein, which is owned by Liechtenstein prince Hans-Adams II.

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Comments (30)

  1. Posted by guest | July 17, 2008 at 12:10 PM

    UBS needs to merge with Erin S. Callan in order to survive.

  2. Posted by guest | July 17, 2008 at 12:29 PM

    Federal regulators should consider revoking the US banking license of the giant Swiss Bank UBS because of its role in helping wealthy Americans evade billions of dollars in taxes, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) told ABC News today.

  3. Posted by Anal_yst | July 17, 2008 at 12:31 PM

    Federal regulators should consider revoking the powers of most politicians, or something to that effect

  4. Posted by guest | July 17, 2008 at 12:36 PM

    I hear ya Sir Anal, just passing along the quote…
    ~SEG

  5. Posted by guest | July 17, 2008 at 12:49 PM

    Politicians like Bunning need to merge with TDFD and stfu…

  6. Posted by guest | July 17, 2008 at 12:49 PM

    Politicians like Bunning need to merge with TDFD and stfu…

  7. Posted by guest | July 17, 2008 at 12:52 PM

    dealerbreaker needs to merge with non-idiot IT/S dudes and prevent this double posting bs

  8. Posted by guest | July 17, 2008 at 12:53 PM

    UBS must have a compliance department with 1 person

  9. Posted by brianvan | July 17, 2008 at 12:55 PM

    Don’t you know this hurts the American economy? That will be $100 billion per YEAR less that wealthy Americans will spend on the kinds of things that create jobs and wealth for disenfranchised people in this country. You know, like Big Macs and housekeeping services. This is clearly a move by the terrorists.

  10. Posted by Anal_yst | July 17, 2008 at 12:59 PM

    Right, $100bn…its probably far better that this alleged sum of money is kept out of the hands of the politicos, lest it be wasted on god knows what

  11. Posted by guest | July 17, 2008 at 1:01 PM

    On the contrary, UBS compliance is downright oppressive.

  12. Posted by guest | July 17, 2008 at 1:02 PM

    Don’t they do the banking for the terrorists?

  13. Posted by guest | July 17, 2008 at 1:03 PM

    When you leave the off-shore business you might get wet. Don’t forget to bring a towel.
    -Towelie

  14. Posted by guest | July 17, 2008 at 1:05 PM

    “I fly like ARS paper, get high like Cayne
    If you catch me at the border I got Swiss visas in my name”
    -retail MIA third-world democracy mutha-f-cka
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sei-eEjy4g

  15. Posted by guest | July 17, 2008 at 1:08 PM

    I think Cayne rolled with ARS paper.

  16. Posted by guest | July 17, 2008 at 1:10 PM

    @1:05
    well done

  17. Posted by WillieBanks | July 17, 2008 at 1:10 PM

    Prince Hans-Adams II needs to merge with James William Bottomtooth in order to survive.

  18. Posted by guest | July 17, 2008 at 1:28 PM

    If actress Tuesday Weld married golfer Don January III, she’d be “Tuesday January the Third.”

  19. Posted by guest | July 17, 2008 at 1:35 PM

    Unrelated, but what happened to Meredith Whitney on the JPM call today? The tigress ‘ran out of gas’ and was a pussycat in her questionings! Is she okay? Where is her whip today?

  20. Posted by guest | July 17, 2008 at 2:09 PM

    terrorists, nazi gold, third world dictators, drug cartels – they’re all welcome at UBS. (google them)
    largest money laundering/tax evasion organization in the world.
    most witch-hunts aren’t justified, but in this particular case it is. UBS has an unscrupulous history, even by banking standards, and is run by Bear Stearns calibre degenerates like Phil Gramm. go ahead, run them out of the country.

  21. Posted by guest | July 17, 2008 at 2:51 PM

    Agree w/ 2:09. The culture there is corrupt and therefore attracts guys with little or no moral compass. They’d fuck the crack of dawn if they thought they could make a buck off it.

  22. Posted by guest | July 17, 2008 at 2:56 PM

    @2:09: “They’d fuck the crack of dawn…”
    Classic. Well put.

  23. Posted by guest | July 17, 2008 at 2:59 PM

    “no longer provide tax advice and private banking services to US customers.”
    I think you mean offshore banking, not private; as that’s all they do now.

  24. Posted by guest | July 17, 2008 at 3:14 PM

    “the medium is the message”
    -Marshall McLuhan
    “the media is the message”
    -guest
    “greater a moving force than reality is perception it is”
    -Darth Friedman

  25. Posted by guest | July 17, 2008 at 3:21 PM

    Rick: How can you close me up? On what grounds?
    Captain Renault: I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!
    [a croupier hands Renault a pile of money]
    Croupier: Your winnings, sir.
    Captain Renault: [sotto voce] Oh, thank you very much.
    [aloud]
    Captain Renault: Everybody out at once!

  26. Posted by guest | July 17, 2008 at 3:36 PM

    My HSBC account in that one country is still cool right?

  27. Posted by guest | July 17, 2008 at 7:20 PM

    Looks like you guys are going to have to schlep your own money to the Caymans now. Should provide sheltered ‘bag man’ employment for soon to be laid off investment types.

  28. Posted by guest | July 17, 2008 at 7:32 PM

    globalization = fail
    spain is the first to go.
    no more eurozone in 5 years.
    heard it hear first.

  29. Posted by guest | July 18, 2008 at 12:00 AM

    @3:36PM
    Your HSBC account is cool as long as HSBC does not end up buying UBS.
    @7:32PM
    Yes, the threat to globalisation is greater than ever. I just hope the politicians will have the courage to resist pressure to wind back the clock and return to the dark days of government interventions.
    I also strenuously call for the regulators to back off from even thinking about increased regulations on hedge funds or other market participants. This is a pathetic attempt at trying to save banks that would have gone bankrupt. Where is all your free market spirits?? You pathetic paperpushers have lost ALL credibility.
    Don’t ever think about lecturing other countries on economic or financial matters again!

  30. Posted by guest | July 18, 2008 at 3:40 AM

    July 18 (Bloomberg) — UBS AG, the world’s largest wealth manager, will stop offering offshore-banking services to U.S. clients through non-U.S. branches, said Mark Branson, chief financial officer of UBS’s global wealth-management unit.
    “We have decided to exit entirely the business in question,” Branson said. “UBS will no longer provide offshore banking or securities services to U.S. residents through our bank branches. Such services will only be provided to residents of this country through companies licensed in the United States.”

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