It sounds great to an offshore bank account bank secrecy have guarded razor-sharp, but it’s all what it seems? Here we explore what the bank secrecy really is, and whether countries actually enforce to protect your privacy. bank secrecy, also known as banking or financial secrecy refers to allowing a legal principle, which banks keep their customers confidential information. This is extremely important to protect against identity theft and fraud, but during break in some countries like Switzerland or Panama bank secrecy could land you in jail in other countries is routinely broken without penalty. what’s that? There is great potential for fraud and / or money laundering, bank if data is kept completely confidential. Governments would be powerless, ill-gotten money to criminal elements porting some stops. The U.S. government was among the first of laws, to introduce to combat fraud in 1970, with its bank secrecy act. This required banks report suspicious transactions over $ 10,000. After 9 / 11 attacks of his introduction of further legislation within the “Patriot Act” the need for greater reporting obligations required. The U.S. government can now trace every dollar transaction is in the world, since they must pass through a U.S. correspondent bank. The problem is, governments worldwide have begun to address the bank secrecy itself as a crime. With the “terror tactics” of hype and exaggerations, they have to bank secrecy, as if their only purpose was to terrorists, dictators and drug barons fought to protect. You want to really wiped out, to find out about (and therefore taxes) every cent of your income, whether domestically or abroad come. The banking secrecy is eroded slowly, even the Swiss, may be entitled to bank secrecy with the 1934 Swiss Banking Act have created, agreed upon certain concessions. The OECD, a Paris think tank, with no official authority has considered a model for international financial transparency and information exchange on tax matters. Many former tax havens have Repentance and made concessions in its banking secrecy, to avoid the set on a black list of uncooperative tax havens by the OECD. These include Liechtenstein, Andorra, Switzerland and Luxembourg. Monaco, Honk Kong and Singapore have said they will think about signing up. While many tax havens is entitled to have strong bank secrecy, not all walk the walk. At least all countries exceptions for matters connected with terrorism, money laundering or other serious offenses provide. Here’s an overview of the most popular tax havens and the effectiveness of their banking secrecy: Switzerland – Although it recently pledged to get to the OECD model convention are still some of the strongest bank secrecy laws around the world. It is agreed that the exchange of information in cases where there is concrete evidence of fraud, otherwise, the law remains unchanged. If someone knows you have an account with a specific bank and has strong evidence of wrongdoing, you are well protected. Panama – has very strong banking secrecy, it could break in two years leading up to prison. Panama does not apply to foreign requests for information with tax evasion, which does not react to it as a crime. Honk Kong – still very strong bank secrecy, because there is no tax information exchange with other countries (this means that it has no legal obligation to respond to a request for tax information from another country), with the exception of China . It is thought to accede to the OECD model convention. Cayman Islands – Although it has very strong bank secrecy laws on paper, they have dispensed in the U.S. government requests for information. It is unlikely against outside pressure, if an individual account is at stake. <-P> Although the banking secrecy is important if you are on your private offshore bank account, one other important thing to keep an eye visibility. If you park your money in Switzerland during a worldwide campaign against tax havens, it is clear that we are means to move into the spotlight. A better solution may be, your money in a smaller country not as a tax haven, where your home government is less likely to hold views on the search.