Switzerland as a Financial Centre

1: The Swiss Financial Centre: An International Comparative Study.- 1: Structure of Banking Systems, Deregulation and Government Policies.- The banking System of the United States.- The banking sector as a stake in political power relations.- Public bodies active on the banking markets.- The legislative constraint: geographical specialization.- The legislative constraint: the distinction between commercial and financial operations.- Recent development of banking regulation.- The Japanese Banking System.- Major characteristics of the banking system.- Recent structural modifications of economic and financial conditions.- Aspects of deregulation.- Resistance to the acceleration of the deregulation movement.- The Banking System of Great Britain.- The main recent changes.- The Bank of England and the supervision of the financial centre.- The development of domestic markets and financial intermediaries.- The London Euromarkets.- Securities markets.- The Banking System of the Federal Republic of Germany.- The macro-economic framework and the role of the German Federal Bank.- Structure of the banking system.- Competition in the banking sector.- The German capital market.- The securities market.- Limits to the movement of deregulation.- Structure of the Swiss Banking System.- General considerations.- Role of the Swiss National Bank.- Intermediaries and financial instruments.- The new law on cartels.- Competition on the Swiss capital market.- Competition in the other markets.- The Federal Law on Price Control.- The revision of the Federal Banking Law.- The revision of the Law on Joint Stock Companies.- The question of registered shares with restricted transferability.- Other legal questions.- Conclusions.- 2: Government Policy and the Right of Establishment.- General Remarks.- Operations concerned.- Restrictions on the Establishment of Foreign Banks: National Treatment and Reciprocity.- Application of the Principle of Reciprocity by Switzerland.- The Various Forms of Establishment Abroad.- General remarks.- Methods of establishment: country studies.- United Kingdom.- Luxemburg.- Federal Republic of Germany.- United States.- Japan.- Switzerland.- Restrictions on the Establishment of Companies Operating on the Securities Markets.- Intermediaries.- Institutional systems.- Country studies.- Federal Republic of Germany.- United States.- United Kingdom.- Japan.- Luxemburg.- Switzerland.- Conclusions.- 3: Bank Secrecy and International Mutual Legal Assistance.- Bank Secrecy: Principle, International Comparisons, Recent Development.- The general principles of bank secrecy in Switzerland and and the consequences of its violation.- The Political Dimension of Bank Secrecy.- Bank Secrecy and the Draft Revision of the Federal Banking Law.- The Convention of Diligence and its renewal.- International comparisons of bank secrecy.- Mutual Legal Assistance.- The principal texts of Swiss law.- Chronological development.- The Federal Law on International Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters.- International mutual assistance in administrative matters.- Recent problems of a political character: the Marcos affair.- Recent problems of a political character: the Duvalier affair and Irangate.- Mutual legal assistance and technical measures.- Mutual legal assistance in the light of international comparison.- Insider Trading.- The nature and history of the problem.- Memorandum of Understanding and Convention XVI of the Swiss Bankers Association.- Inclusion of an article on insider operations in the Swiss Penal Code.- of a penal standard aimed at preventing the laundering of funds having a criminal origin.- Conclusions.- 4: Fiscal Policy and the Banking System.- Development of the Finances of the Swiss Confederation.- Fiscal Practices in Banking.- Taxation of Bank Profits.- Federal Stamp Duties.- Withholding Tax.- Turnover Tax on Gold.- Conclusions.- 5: The Swiss Capital Markets.- The Money Market.- The Capital Markets.- The bond market.- The share market.- Conclusions.- 6: The Swiss Stock Exchanges.- Swiss Stock Exchanges: Their Structure, Development and Situation in International Terms.- Costs of Stock Exchange Transactions.- The new Convention on brokerage commissions.- Conclusions.- 7: Banks and Technology.- New Information Technology in Banking.- The telematic era.- Telematics and Banking.- Swiss Banks and the New Technology.- Initiatives and systems adopted by Swiss banks.- Management and data processing.- Customer services.- Interconnection of banks.- Stock exchange operations.- Government Policy and Technological Infrastructure at the Disposal of Switzerland as a Financial Centre.- Technological Changes and the Telecommunications Sector.- Government Policy and the Telecommunications Sector: a Liberalisation Process.- Recent development towards liberalization.- Perspectives of liberalization.- Conclusions.- 8: Training and Employment in the Banking Sector.- The Employment Market in the Swiss Banking System.- A large and regular growth in bank personnel.- Technology and gains in productivity.- The present situation in the employment market and likely developments.- Bank Training.- The system of bank training in Switzerland.- Basic training.- Additional and continuous training.- Assessment of efforts made so far.- Conclusions.- 9: Analysis of the Profit and Loss Account of Swiss Banks.- Difficulties in Methodology.- The Various Revenues Positions.- Revenues: Large Banks.- Revenues: Other Banks.- Revenues: Branches of Foreign Banks.- Revenues: Cantonal Banks.- Revenues: Regional and Savings Banks.- Revenues: Mutual Credit Banks and Raiffeisen Credit Cooperative Banks.- Revenues: Finance Companies.- Revenues: Private Bankers.- Revenues: All Banks.- Comparison of one Item of Revenues between the Various Categories of Bank: Fiduciary Investments.- Expenditure.- Comparison between the Various Categories of Bank: Elements of Appraisal of the Profitability of Employees.- Development of the Profit-making Capability of Banks.- International Comparisons.- Conclusions.- 10: Costs and Margins in the Banking Sector.- Staff and Operating Costs.- Income.- Profits.- Capital Ratio.- Updating the Results.- Staff and operating costs.- Income.- Profits.- Capital ratio.- Conclusions.- 11: Capital and Liquid Assets.- Capital.- Liquid Assets.- Foreign Assets and Country Risk Exposure.- Conclusions.- 2: Government Policy and the Future Prospects of Switzerland as a Financial Centre.- 1: The Situation of Switzerland as a Financial Centre: Present Trends and Likely Developments.- The Economic and Political Environment: Conditions Surrounding Banking and Financial operations.- The Swiss environment.- The international environment.- The Competitiveness of Switzerland as a Financial Centre.- Switzerland’s comparative advantages and the way they are developing.- Brakes on competitiveness.- Fiscal factors/costs of transactions.- Technology.- Training.- The Competitiveness of Swiss Banks.- 2: Government Policy and the Future of Switzerland as a Financial Centre: The Choices Available.- The Main Axes of Possible Action.- Fiscal burdens and transaction costs.- Technology.- Employment and training.- Prospects for the Future.- List of Tables.- List of Diagrams.