(Reuters) – The Swiss financial markets regulator FINMA was right to order the handing over of client data by UBS to the U.S. authorities, a top court ruled on Friday, despite the country’s cherished tradition of bank secrecy.
FINMA ordered UBS to hand over the data of 255 customers to the U.S. Department of Justice in 2009 as part of a settlement to avert criminal charges being leveled against Switzerland’s biggest bank.
“Such an indictment would have led to the bankruptcy of the bank which in turn would have caused serious and virtually uncontrollable economic repercussions for Switzerland,” the Swiss Federal Supreme Court said in a statement.
“Since FINMA had compelling reasons to believe that not relinquishing the customer data to the U.S. Department of Justice would have seriously impaired Switzerland’s financial markets and have led to serious repercussions for the Swiss economy, the action taken by it was shown to be lawful.”
The ruling overturns a 2010 decision by the Swiss Federal Administrative Court that FINMA’s decision was unlawful in a case brought by UBS customers whose data was handed over. If the Supreme Court had upheld that ruling, UBS clients could have sought damages from the Swiss state.
UBS also paid a fine of $780 million in exchange for the dropping of the U.S. investigation and later handed over details of a further 4,450 accounts to settle the case.
Earlier on Friday local rival Credit Suisse said it is being probed by the U.S. Department of Justice as part of a broader investigation into banks suspected of helping Americans evade taxes.
Switzerland and the United States have been in talks to try to reach a multi-billion dollardeal to get the investigation dropped in return for the banks paying a fine, closing their undeclared offshore banking businesses to Americans, and turning over client names to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Offshore tax havens have come under heavy attack in recent years as cash-strapped governments seek to boost revenues in the wake of the financial crisis, forcing countries like Switzerland to pledge to cooperate more to help hunt tax evaders.
Posted in Asset Management, Financial headlines, Latest Issues, Mutual Funds, Stock Market | 
Tags: Asset Management and Mutual Funds, Brightbridge Wealth Management and Financial Planning Updated News Articles, Brightbridge Wealth Management Financial and Investment Advice, Brightbridge Wealth Management Headlines:, Brightbridge Wealth Management Technology, Current headlines, Sports and Financial World News, Swiss court says was right to give U.S. bank data | No Comments »
July 11th, 2011 | 
Author: By David Sarno, Los Angeles Times
Microsoft Corp., the 800-pound gorilla of the software world, is hoping it can lift itself into the cloud.
In rolling out Office 365, the online version of its ubiquitous Microsoft Office suite, the Redmond, Wash., technology giant is looking to catch up to rival Google Inc. in the race to move business software residing on local computers to remote data centers accessible from anywhere. For a monthly fee starting at $6 per user, Office 365 will allow company employees to edit and store Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations online and communicate with one another via email, instant message or video chat as they work on projects together, an element Microsoft said would allow workers to get more done. Larger companies and those looking for more features will pay more per month.
Cloud proponents say companies can cut costs by getting rid of their own servers — which are expensive and require frequent maintenance and security updates — and allowing technology firms like Microsoft and Google to handle the hard work of supplying businesses’ computing needs.
“What happens when Microsoft Office meets the cloud?” Chief Executive Steve Ballmersaid at a presentation Tuesday. “Collaboration happens in addition to productivity, anywhere for any business of any size.”
Though Microsoft has for years had a cloud element to its Office suite, the company has struggled to catch up to Google in the online software race. The search giant says its Google Apps software, which also includes word processing, email and other business applications, is used by 3 million businesses and 30 million people around the world.
Still, that number is a small fraction of the 1 billion global users Microsoft says it has for its traditional Office suite, which for years has been its bestselling product. In 2010, Microsoft’s Business Division, which makes Office, was responsible for 30% of the company’s $64 billion in annual revenue.
In rolling out Office 365, the online version of its ubiquitous Microsoft Office suite, the Redmond, Wash., technology giant is looking to catch up to rival Google Inc. in the race to move business software residing on local computers to remote data centers accessible from anywhere. For a monthly fee starting at $6 per user, Office 365 will allow company employees to edit and store Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations online and communicate with one another via email, instant message or video chat as they work on projects together, an element Microsoft said would allow workers to get more done. Larger companies and those looking for more features will pay more per month.
Cloud proponents say companies can cut costs by getting rid of their own servers — which are expensive and require frequent maintenance and security updates — and allowing technology firms like Microsoft and Google to handle the hard work of supplying businesses’ computing needs.
“What happens when Microsoft Office meets the cloud?” Chief Executive Steve Ballmersaid at a presentation Tuesday. “Collaboration happens in addition to productivity, anywhere for any business of any size.”
Though Microsoft has for years had a cloud element to its Office suite, the company has struggled to catch up to Google in the online software race. The search giant says its Google Apps software, which also includes word processing, email and other business applications, is used by 3 million businesses and 30 million people around the world.
Still, that number is a small fraction of the 1 billion global users Microsoft says it has for its traditional Office suite, which for years has been its bestselling product. In 2010, Microsoft’s Business Division, which makes Office, was responsible for 30% of the company’s $64 billion in annual revenue.
No comments:
Post a Comment