U.S. Ambassador Tells Swiss Banks to Open Doors to Americans
- Suzan LeVine asks bank executives to discuss improving access
- Regulation, tax probes deter banks from accepting U.S. clients
Pedestrians and a tram pass UBS Group AG, left, and Credit Suisse Group AG's headquarters on Paradeplatz in Zurich.
Photographer: Philipp Schmidli/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The U.S. ambassador to Switzerland wants more of the country’s 266 banks to accept American clients after onerous regulations and tax-evasion probes prompted many financial firms to shun them.
Top banks UBS Group AG and Credit Suisse Group AG, along with Corner Banca SA, from the Italian-speaking southern part of Switzerland, have introduced procedures for U.S. citizens. Still, it’s a challenge for many of the 20,000 American expatriates living in the country to open or keep an account, Ambassador Suzan LeVine said in a statement from the U.S. embassy in Bern on Wednesday.