Swiss Banks Follow The Money To Panama

Swiss Banks Follow The Money To Panama

by Paula Dupraz-Dobias, swissinfo.ch

May 4, 2014

Sunshine, a lower cost of living and the inevitable low rate of taxation are what brought Michel*, a retired Geneva private banker, to Panama last year. Swiss banks have also been casting their net in the Latin American state.

“I had enough with having to pay so much tax in Europe”, the dapper-dressed man explained on a recent sunny, hot day in the skyscraper-filled centre of Panama.

While Panama is renowned for its light tax burden, including tax exemption on foreign-earned income for foreign residents, it was the growing pressure from international fiscal authorities on banks and clients back in Europe,...