Now think about it, when the rent is this much, then how much will be the stuff inside? In 1990, Osama Bin Laden opened an account in Swiss bank. Similarly, the bank statement does not even have the name of the account holder. So it was found that the Indians broke the record of 13 years in depositing money in Swiss bank. When this particular celebrity was investigated, the Swiss bank’s Treasurer’s cheque was caught. But Osama Bin Laden’s Swiss account did not have any activity for 6 years. But Swiss bank is famous for its numbered accounts. People buy things like gold and diamonds and keep them in these bunkers. And with the code, they keep transferring their generations to the next generation. After that, the Swiss account holders also got a list.
But not a single penny of it came back to India. In James Bond’s movie, The Word is Not Enough, James Bond said… Can’t trust a Swiss banker? What’s the world come to?…that if you can’t trust a Swiss banker, then you don’t know what will happen to the world. There are many such movies in which the Swiss bank employees are shot, but they still don’t give any information. So the first thing is, what is the reason that the Swiss bank is so famous all over the world? Why do the powerful and rich people of India, leave their SBI bank, hide it from the government and invest in the Swiss bank? What is the benefit of this?
And can I sit in India and open an account in Swiss bank in India? What documents do I take? Why is the numbered account in Swiss bank so famous? We will discuss all these things in detail. Before that, let’s understand one thing, black money. After that, everything will be clear. See, any money whose source you are hiding from the government, that is black money. Now, one source is hidden by doing illegal activities. Like betting, extortion, smuggling and other illegal activities like a shopkeeper selling goods, this is not an illegal activity but if he is not paying the bill and is taking cash and depositing it at home, then this is black money.
In an ideal economy, every transaction should have a record with the government and the one who does not have a record, who is not getting taxed, that is black money. You can’t spend it easily. To hide it and make it white, people use different ways. One of them is to keep money in a Swiss bank. The Swiss bank we use is not a single bank. All the banks in Switzerland are called Swiss banks. But there are some rules in Switzerland, which make the banks all over the world famous. In the year 1713, the Swiss government made a law that no bank will share any details of its customers.
And when this was said, the capital of Switzerland, Geneva, France and all the rich and powerful people of the rest of the European countries started keeping money in Switzerland. And this is where the culture of secrecy and silence in Swiss banks begins, which has become very important for Swiss banks. After this rule, the money flow from outside Switzerland started proving very beneficial for their government. After this, in 1934, the Swiss government passed another law, Banking Act of 1934, under Article 47 of which, if any Swiss bank shares the details of its customers to any government or tax agency all over the world, then it will be a punishable offence.
Even if the details are of a criminal. If anyone violates it, he will be sentenced to 5 years. This law was the strictest banking law in the world. It was and still is. Seeing all this, Switzerland became an attractive destination for rich and powerful people. Because they don’t need to answer for their black money and illegal assets. Not even their own country’s government. The first choice till Osama Bin Laden was Swiss bank. I will tell you that in the end when Indian celebrities names will be mentioned. The biggest advantage of Switzerland was and still is that this country is politically neutral.
Now if there was a bank like this in Pakistan, Indians would have avoided keeping money in it. No matter how good the bank is, Switzerland has no enmity with anyone. Even during the Cold War, when all the countries were forced to take the side of one of the countries, America and Soviet Russia then Switzerland was neutral at that time also. In the second world war also Switzerland chose the path of neutrality. Switzerland has not fought any war since 1501. See this is a big advantage for a country. I will tell you how it is. At the time of world war, the countries which thought that Hitler will attack us and loot our money, all those countries people started keeping their money in Switzerland.
Recently also some documents were uncovered to of or OECD countries. They all put a lot of pressure on the Switzerland government to loosen their rules. But the Switzerland government ignored everyone. In fact, a stricter rule was made that if a bank official gives information outside the bank, it will be considered a punishable offence.
Now let’s see how to open an account in Swiss bank. Look, any resident of any country in the world can open an account in Swiss bank. People like you and me can also open an account in Swiss bank. But there is only one problem. It should be at least 1 million Swiss Francs. Maximum can be as much as you want. To open an account in Swiss bank, your minimum age should be 18 years. A valid passport whose validity is at least 6 months. But along with this, they also submit your resume.
In which, what all you do with your skills, your work experience and all the details. You have to provide the details of how you got the fund. You can connect to any time zone and any language in Switzerland. Every facility is available for international customers. It was a very simple process before, but there was a lot of international pressure in Switzerland. And there is a new money laundering laws have also come. So, it has become a little tough to open an account in Swiss bank and deposit money. But even after all these strictness, more money has started coming to Swiss bank after Covid. The example I gave of the world war, today the war between Ukraine and Russia is repeating the same thing.
Due to uncertainty, people of Ukraine and Russia want to keep their money in a safe place. This has increased the demand of Swiss bank. When digitalization was going on all over the world, Swiss bank also opted for digital infrastructure and tried to connect users with mobile payment system. According to the 2020 Swiss Payment Survey, people in Switzerland used mobile payment system more than cash. Now see, no matter how far Switzerland is, it is not possible to beat India in digitalization. In 2022, India has a strong infrastructure that facilitates this. Free Charge UPI makes fast and secure payment possible. You can transfer money within seconds.
It is very easy to use and you don’t need to carry cash. QR code, phone number or UPI ID. If you have any of these, you can easily use Free Charge to transfer money. And the best part is that any app that supports UPI, be it Paytm, Amazon or phone, you can scan and pay on it. So, coming back to the topic. Now, see, a normal account in Swiss bank can be opened by anyone. We can also open a bank from India if we meet the minimum requirements. But Swiss bank is famous for its numbered account. This is the account in which powerful and rich people keep money. It is not easy to open a numbered account.
For this, you have to visit Switzerland physically once. And in this numbered account, your privacy is taken care of. No matter how powerful the government of the world is, if the agreement to exchange tax-related information is not with Switzerland, and But Swiss bank has a numbered account, where you just have to share a number and all the work is done. Only a few officials of the Swiss bank have this detail. Rest, no one has this detail. In a numbered account, regulatory compliance, anti-money laundering, obligations, etc. are checked. It’s not like someone just went and deposited money.
There is proper verification. And once everything is checked, your account is opened in Swiss bank. After that, saving customer’s identity is the top priority of Swiss bank. For a numbered account, Swiss bank’s computer doesn’t even have a customer’s name. No bank employee can see your identity. Also, if there is a cyber crime, your name is not displayed. Similarly, bank statement doesn’t even have an account holder’s name. There is only a number which is the basis of the entire account. It costs a lot to run this numbered account. Its annual charge is around 300 dollars, which is around 24,000 to 25,000 rupees.
If you live outside of Switzerland, then the bank can charge a non-residential fee from you. In this, Swiss bank also provides a facility that if you want that the bank statement should not be sent to your country, then that facility is also there. Because information can go from the bank statement to the government. But to avoid sending the bank statement, you have to pay reverse fee.
