Financial Transparency Coalition

It's just been reported that US and Swiss governmnet authorities have initialed a settlement that would bring about an end to the UBS legal saga. According to the Washington Post:

In a conference call Wednesday morning with the federal judge presiding over the case, Justice Department lawyer Stuart D. Gibson said the parties had initialed agreements and that they would ask the judge to dismiss the matter when the final documents are signed.

Terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed, leaving unclear what each side gained or conceded.

So we still...

Washington Post - U.S. and Swiss negotiators have initialed a settlement that averts a legal showdown over the U.S. government's landmark challenge to Swiss bank secrecy, a government lawyer said Wednesday.

Reuters published a little factsheet on the status of banking secrecy around Europe today. The factsheet goes country by country providing a brief summary of the status of each one. While certainly not penetrating too deeply into each country, it does provide a nice reference. Check it out here...

Reuters - Liechtenstein and Britain said on Tuesday they had signed an agreement to encourage British clients of banks in the Alpine principality to voluntarily disclose untaxed money. Here are some details about European countries who have been maintaining strict laws protecting banking privacy.