|
Once
a haven for untaxed and illicit assets, the small but
influential finance hub has been stung into action by a global
push to combat money laundering and financial crime. That has
led to considerable improvement in its efforts since 2005, the
global task force said.
"Switzerland demonstrates a strong commitment to mutual legal
assistance," FATF said in a statement. "It should continue to
pursue its efforts on all other forms of international
cooperation, including on the supervision of financial groups
given the key role of the Swiss financial center."
Legal reforms and assistive investigations had strengthened the
country's efforts and helped return considerable sums in a
number of international grand corruption cases.
Swiss authorities have collected financial information and
seized assets for their international counterparts in a number
of prominent cases, including investigations into Malaysian
state fund 1MDB, global soccer body FIFA and Brazilian state-run
oil company Petrobras.
But Switzerland should do more when it comes to preventing
financial crime, the report concluded. In particular, banks and
other financial intermediaries should step up efforts to spot
and report suspected crime.
Banks too seldom reported suspicious transactions, the FATF
said, and most such reports occurred only after information from
external sources had come to light.
Swiss financial watchdog FINMA has called on banks to be more
thorough in their checks and in October said 15 were in a "red
zone" of lenders particularly exposed to money laundering.
The finance ministry said it would analyze the recommendations
of the report and submit a corresponding proposal to the Swiss
cabinet next year.
(Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi; Editing by Catherine
Evans)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
