Swiss government should act on US tax threat

The Swiss government should take action to prevent a crackdown of US tax authorities on Switzerland's second-largest bank Credit Suisse, Swiss private banker Konrad Hummler said in a newspaper interview.
"If there are attempts to destabilise a big institute like Credit Suisse, political authorities need to act," said Hummler, who chairs the Swiss Private Bankers Association, in an interview with weekly newspaper SonntagsZeitung on Sunday.
He warned of a repetition of the UBS case, which ultimately cracked open Swiss banking secrecy, and said other Swiss banks could also become a target of US tax authorities. "No bank can feel safe," he said.
Four current and former Credit Suisse bankers were charged last week with encouraging Americans to evade taxes using offshore credit cards and moving money to other banks from Israel to Hong Kong.
Credit Suisse said it was cooperating with authorities but said the bank was not a target of the investigation.
Credit Suisse spokesman Andres Luther, contacted by Reuters on Sunday, said he had nothing to add to this statement.
In order to settle a high-profile tax investigation into Switzerland's biggest bank UBS, Switzerland accepted in 2009 to hand over details of about 4,450 bank accounts to US authorities while the bank itself agreed to pay $780 million.