Switzerland said the OECD economic grouping threatened to blacklist it as a tax haven and it risked being punished with economic sanctions, according to comments published on Saturday.
The comments by Swiss Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz came a day after Switzerland and other states said they would relax their bank secrecy laws, within strict limits, amid global pressure to stamp out tax havens.
"The secretariat general of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), without informing us, drew up a proposal for a new blacklist on March 5. I have learned that Switzerland was on it," Merz was quoted as saying by the daily Le Temps.
He said the list was drawn up at the request of the Group of 20 (G20) rich and emerging countries, whose finance ministers were meeting in England on Saturday ahead of a full summit of its leaders on April 2.
The G20 has made the fight against tax havens one of its top priorities, with Germany and France pushing particularly hard.
"For the moment it's just a threat," Merz said of the blacklist proposal. "But if this threat becomes a reality during the G20 on April 2, it could entail economic sanctions for the countries targeted."
Switzerland joined Luxembourg, Austria and Monaco on Friday in saying it would relax bank secrecy laws. Merz said the decision came in response to pressure from the G20.
"We cannot run such a risk" of being blacklisted and suffering sanctions, he said.
Friday's announcements followed similar moves Thursday by Belgium, Liechtenstein and Andorra. The latter two are already on an OECD list of uncooperative tax havens.
The comments by Swiss Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz came a day after Switzerland and other states said they would relax their bank secrecy laws, within strict limits, amid global pressure to stamp out tax havens.
"The secretariat general of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), without informing us, drew up a proposal for a new blacklist on March 5. I have learned that Switzerland was on it," Merz was quoted as saying by the daily Le Temps.
He said the list was drawn up at the request of the Group of 20 (G20) rich and emerging countries, whose finance ministers were meeting in England on Saturday ahead of a full summit of its leaders on April 2.
The G20 has made the fight against tax havens one of its top priorities, with Germany and France pushing particularly hard.
"For the moment it's just a threat," Merz said of the blacklist proposal. "But if this threat becomes a reality during the G20 on April 2, it could entail economic sanctions for the countries targeted."
Switzerland joined Luxembourg, Austria and Monaco on Friday in saying it would relax bank secrecy laws. Merz said the decision came in response to pressure from the G20.
"We cannot run such a risk" of being blacklisted and suffering sanctions, he said.
Friday's announcements followed similar moves Thursday by Belgium, Liechtenstein and Andorra. The latter two are already on an OECD list of uncooperative tax havens.
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