What is the meaning behind "Swiss bank accounts" in movies?

Question

In movies we always hear about people wiring money to swiss bank accounts, is this away of covering tracks or staying otof trouble or what?

Answer 1

The "what" in your question would be the well kept secrecy the Swiss banks do for their depositors. They do not report your account to any other country, nor answer questions on them.

Besides the lack of public access, Swiss accounts are are numbered accounts, no names are associated with that account.

Therefore people can't find out who owns them even if they get a hold of the numbers. Transactions going in and out of the accounts only show the number.

Any interest earned on the accounts is not reported to any other country either. So you can hide your income if you want.

So if someone transfers your ransom demands to your new Swiss numbered account all their records will show is the dollars and a number. You can let the cat go and keep the money. Even the FBI can't get information out of the Swiss bankers.

How much ransom for Cuddles the cat anyway?

Answer 2

There are a lot of myths about Swiss bank accounts. That is the main reason why Swiss banks often play a role in movies. This movies also contribute their part to keep the myth alive. Therefore most things people think they know about Swiss banks are more fiction than reality. That is probably the reason why the most popular myth are repeated in the answers here.

Fact is: Switzerland has strong laws to protect the financial data of individuals. This is because the Swiss believe that it is a fundamental right to protect financial information. This attitude can be compared with the attitude Americans have regarding the right of free speech.

This confidentiality is very much appreciate by wealthy and famous individuals. If you put yourself in the position of a famous person it is easy to imagine that such people appreciate the fact that their financial data is kept confidential.

The following statments are myths:

Myth: " Swiss bank accounts are anonymous".
Fact: There is no such thing as an anonymous account. People often think that numbered accounts are anonymous but the bank always know who the account holder is. The numbers are used for the bank internal handling to ensure that name of the account owner is not visible to every bank employee.

Myth: "Swiss bank do not ask anything when you open an account "
Fact: The identity of the account holder and the source of the money is always investigated. Switzerland has one of the strictest anti-money laundering law in the world. Furthermore the banks want to discourage doubtful clients as they are bad for their reputation.

Myth: "They do not report your account to any other country, nor answer questions on them"
Facts: If a criminal offence is involved the Swiss Authorities report all relevant data. They have no intention to protect criminals. They are bad for reputation and business.

Myth: "Any interest earned on the accounts is not reported to any other country either. So you can hide your income if you want."
Facts: Switzerland even has agreements with many countries to collect the interest tax directly and transfer it to the relevant country.

Answer 3

I have a Swiss bank account. The big thing about them is that in Switzerland they have a law that if you have a bank account, NOBODY can get any information about it except you. So if you steal a billion dollars in the US and take it to Switzerland and put it in a bank over there, The FBI can't start looking through bank accounts for the one that had a billion dollars deposited into it. Thats why.

Answer 4

Swiss bank?

Answer 5

Swiss accounts are identified by a number,
no name or tax number. They are purely anonymous.
So, if you steal 100,000 $$$, and deposit in a Swiss acct, they'll never tell! And if you don't it'll be there forever.
But don't stop at 100,000. Make it 10 million,and at 5% interest, that's 500.000 a year income, no matter where you try to hide.

Answer 6

swiss bank does not ask anything when u open an account in it.
It ask u for no documents.
Any amount u can deposit or withdraw at any time.
There is no control from any World Bank on this Bank.

Answer 7

The accounts of our Senators and drug dealers. Off shore accounts protected by that government.