NEW DELHI: India has moved down to 61st place in terms of foreigners’ money in Swiss banks and it now accounts for a meagre 0.123 per cent of the total global wealth worth $1.6 trillion in Switzerland’s banking system.
While the UK and the US have retained their top two positions with the largest shares of the foreign clients’ money with Swiss banks , Pakistan has inched up to 73rd place.
Interestingly, just two big banks — UBS and Credit Suisse — account for nearly two-third of the total money kept by foreigners in Swiss banks, while their share in case of Indians is even higher at about 82 per cent.
As per the latest data released by Switzerland’s central banking authority SNB (Swiss National Bank), Indians’ money in Swiss banks declined by over 10 per cent to about 1.8 billion Swiss francs ($1.98 billion or Rs 12,615 crore) in 2014. This accounts for just 0.123 per cent of the total funds kept in the Swiss banks by people from across the world. This is the second lowest level of Indian money in Swiss banks – after an increase of over 40 per cent in 2013 – and the latest data comes amid an enhanced clampdown against the famed secrecy wall of Switzerland’s banking system.
The funds, described by SNB as ‘liabilities’ of Swiss banks or amounts due to the customers of banks in Switzerland are official Swiss figures and do not indicate to the quantum of the much-debated alleged black money held by Indians in the safe havens of Switzerland. Besides, SNB’s official figures do not include the money that Indians or others might have in Swiss banks in the names of entities from different countries.
