ZURICH, May 12 (Reuters) - Switzerland's banks will benefitfrom the global crackdown on tax avoidance, the president of thecountry's association of foreign banks and head of HSBC's Swiss private banking arm said on Tuesday.
The Alpine nation famed for its banking secrecy is bowing tointernational pressure by committing to a cross-borderdata-sharing programme, but HSBC's Franco Morra, speaking aspresident of the Association of Foreign Banks in Switzerland,said the country's professional infrastructure will ensure itremains competitive in the fight for foreign cash.
"Not only do you (in Switzerland) have the competencies andthe expertise, but also dealing with the past and actuallycreating a level playing field on tax transparency, I think wewill gain a lot in terms of competitiveness as a financialcentre," he said in a panel discussion on the Organization forEconomic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Automatic Exchangeof Information programme in Zurich.
"That will give us big opportunities to grow again ourprivate banking business."
Some countries will begin exchanging data in 2017, withSwitzerland having pledged to do so a year later.
This erosion of Switzerland's long-held secrecy rules willrequire banks to report residents' account balances, interestand other earnings to the government, which can share the datawith any other government signed up to the programme.
Morra did not comment on HSBC at Tuesday's event.
The bank was dragged into the public spotlight this yearwith an admission of past failings in compliance and controls atits Swiss private bank.
It also faces investigation by U.S. and French authoritiesand an inquiry by British lawmakers after reports that it hadhelped customers to conceal millions of dollars of assets.
(Reporting by Joshua Franklin; Editing by David Goodman)
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