Switzerland grants Pakistan access to bank data

• The Swiss parliament approved a new batch of countries for automatic exchange of financial information.
• This will allow Pakistan authorities to learn how much money Pakistanis have in Switzerland.

The Switzerland Parliament has approved to grant Pakistan, among eighteen countries, to access its financial data starting from 2021. The development would allow Pakistan authorities to learn how much money Pakistanis have in Switzerland.

As per swissinfo.ch, a news platform produced by the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, the Swiss parliament approved on Tuesday a new batch of countries for automatic exchange of financial information (AEOI).

This means that Switzerland will provide details of bank accounts held by their citizens (or those with a fiscal residence in Switzerland).  Meanwhile, in return, Switzerland will receive information on banking details of accounts held by Swiss citizens/residents in these partner countries.

The 18 countries are Albania, Azerbaijan, Brunei, Dominica, Ghana, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Macau, Maldives, Nigeria, Niue, Oman, Pakistan, Peru, Samoa, Saint Martin, Trinidad and Tobago and Vanuatu.

Currently Switzerland receives financial data from 75 countries and shares data with 63 countries.

Recently the Swiss authorities revealed that they had provided details of around 3.1 million bank accounts held by foreigners (or those with a fiscal residence abroad) to their countries of origin or residence.

In return, it received information on banking details of around 2.4 million accounts held by Swiss citizens/residents in 75 partner countries.