Breaking the Banks: Switzerland Ponders a Future of Clean Money

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: The end of Switzerland's famous banking secrecy seems inevitable as US and German authorities crack down on tax evaders. Many Swiss are asking themselves whether their prosperity will survive if the country abandons its status as a tax haven. But some academics argue that the importance of the banking sector has been wildly exaggerated.

Jean Ziegler steps onto the veranda behind his house. It's a warm day in late summer. He points to the hilly landscape on the other side of the Rhône River, to France, where Mont Blanc is visible in the distance. "That's where Switzerland finally comes to an end," says Ziegler. It's the kind of joke you would expect of Ziegler, a man notorious for never sparing his own country.

No one else is as well known for his moral criticism of Switzerland. Ziegler is 78, and until a few years ago he traveled the world as a United Nations special rapporteur. The fight against hunger and against Swiss banks has shaped his life. Has nothing changed in the last 20 years? "No, the banditry of the banks is in full swing!" he says energetically. His wife is about to serve a meal of Wiener schnitzel accompanied by white wine.

A search for answers about Switzerland begins in Ziegler's garden in Russin, a wine-growing municipality near Geneva. Where does the country's wealth come from? How much of it is due to Switzerland's tradition of banking secrecy, and for how much longer will it exist? And what happens to Switzerland when that secrecy is gone? » | Mathieu von Rohr | Tuesday, September 25, 2012