Black money: Switzerland ratifies account info sharing with India

NEWDELHI: Switzerland on Friday ratified automatic exchange of financial account information with India and 40 other countries to facilitate sharing of details on suspected black money, even as it sought strict adherence to confidentiality and data security.

The Swiss Federal Council said the implementation is planned for 2018 and the first set of data should be exchanged in 2019. The council, which is the top governing body of the European nation, will soon notify the Indian government about the exact date from which the automatic exchange would begin.

As per the draft notification approved by the council in its meeting on Friday, the decision is not subject to any referendum -which means there should be no further procedural delay in its implementation.

The issue of black money has been a matter of great debate in India and Switzerland has been long perceived as one of the safest havens for the illicit wealth stashed abroad by Indians.

Friday’s decision follows hectic parleys between the two countries for automatic exchange of financial information for tax probes. The council said it will prepare a situation report before the first exchange of data, planned for autumn 2019. “It will be checked whether the states and territories concerned effectively meet the requirements under the standard, especially those concerning confidentiality and data security.”