The FT has noted:

An economic war has broken out between Switzerland and the rest of the world after the crackdown on Swiss banking secrecy, according to one of Geneva’s leading private bankers.

Yves Mirabaud, a managing partner at Swiss private bank Mirabaud, told the Financial Times that nothing was easier than dodging tax in the US and UK.

In rare public comments, the Swiss private banker said: “There is a feeling in the banking community, and also in the population . . . that we are in an economic war.

There is nothing easier than doing tax evasion in the US. Look at Delaware companies or trusts in the Channel Islands.”

That’s true. But it’s not chance that such a high proportion of the world’s dirty money is in Switzerland. So, to be candid, tax evasion is pretty easy there too: indeed their own bankers have estimated half their cash is dirty money. Which is precisely why we need automatic information exchange on who has bank accounts, foundations, corporations and other structures based or managed there. But according to the FT:

Swiss private banks and politicians are adamant that “fishing expeditions” from foreign countries to find out customers’ names — known as the automatic exchange of information — will not be allowed.

If this is where the battle line is drawn Switzerland will lose. Justifying tax abuse because others tax abuse is like justifying a murder because others have murdered. It just won’t do. The Swiss really need to understand that.