Switzerland’s
tax disputes with the United States and some European nations are “an economic
war’’ putting 20,000 jobs at risk, the CEO of Swiss banking giant UBS AG has
been quoted as saying.
The banks’ rivals seek a share of their combined foreign assets of 2.2 trillion Swiss francs ($2.42 trillion), forcing UBS to cut costs and imperiling 20,000 jobs, Ermotti also was quoted in the Sunday paper as saying.
Switzerland
has recently tried to shed its image as a tax haven, signing deals with the
United States, Germany and Britain to provide greater assistance to foreign tax
authorities seeking information on their citizens’ accounts in the Alpine
nation.
But
the tax agreements have drawn fire from Switzerland’s nationalist People’s
Party, which won more than a quarter of the vote in last year’s general
election, with some lawmakers saying they will try to block the treaties
through referendums.
Sergio
Ermotti, who was appointed CEO of Switzerland’s largest bank in November in the
wake of a trading scandal, says Switzerland now is “stuck in the middle of
economic warfare’’ and its opponents’ goal is to weaken UBS and the next
biggest bank, Credit Suisse, according to Zurich Sunday newspaper
SonntagsZeitung.
The banks’ rivals seek a share of their combined foreign assets of 2.2 trillion Swiss francs ($2.42 trillion), forcing UBS to cut costs and imperiling 20,000 jobs, Ermotti also was quoted in the Sunday paper as saying.
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