Financial Transparency Coalition

ZURICH, June 29 (Reuters) - Switzerland should have renegotiated more than enough double taxation treaties by the autumn to be removed from an OECD 'grey list', Swiss Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz was quoted as saying on Monday.

An economic war has broken out between Switzerland and the rest of the world after the crackdown on Swiss banking secrecy, according to one of Geneva’s leading private bankers.

The Internal Revenue Services intensified hunt for tax evaders overseas has caused Switzerland's two biggest banks to say goodbye to its American customers.

The New York Times published an article today about a wealthy former UBS client, Steven Michael Rubinstein, who plead guilty to filing false tax returns - failing to disclose his offshore UBS accounts that he was funneling money through. The article goes on to provide analysis of the fallout surrounding UBS as would be expected. However, while providing background information, the New York Times threw in this gem:

UBS, the world’s largest private bank, admitted in February to conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service by helping scores of wealthy Americans hide nearly...