Press Room

October 18, 2018

From Switzerland: The First Exchange of Information on Around Two Million Financial Accounts

Source: Roberto Cavadini or Paolo MondiaAndersen in Switzerland, a member firm of Andersen Global


In 2018, under the framework of AEOI (Automatic Exchange of Information), the Swiss FTA was required to exchange data with the European Union (EU) states as well as a further nine states and territories (Australia, Canada, Guernsey, Iceland, Isle of Man, Japan, Jersey, Norway, South Korea). The first exchange took place at the end of September 2018, however, it did not include Cyprus and Romania as they do not yet comply with international confidentiality and data security requirements. Furthermore, exchanges are still to take place with Australia and France, which are delayed due to technical reasons. The FTA reports that it has not received data from Croatia, Estonia and Poland yet, but is expected. Data has been received by the other partner states.

The FTA has approximately 7000 reporting financial institutions (banks, trusts, insurers, etc.) registered. Information on some 2 million financial accounts was collected by these institutions, which was then passed on to the FTA before being transferred partner states, who in turn, also sent information in the millions to the FTA. Exact figures on the exchanges are not yet known, and the FTA cannot provide any information on the amount of financial assets.

The AEOI will occur on a yearly basis. It is expected that in 2019, provided that partner states meet confidentiality and data security requirements, information from 2018 will be exchanged between 80 partner states. The implementation of the AEOI for each of the participating states is reviewed by the OECD Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (Global Forum).