U.S. Ups the Pressure on the Swiss to Rat Out Their U.S. Clients (9/4/11)

In the continuing game of chicken between the Swiss government (perhaps better described for this purpose as the Swiss financial system) and the rest of the civilized world (at least the part that is serious about their income tax systems), the U.S. appears to ratcheting up the ante. As reported in the press (I give a Reuter's link below, but there are a number of other reports with similar hard facts (few) and speculations (many)).

The hard key fact is that U.S. Deputy Attorney General James Cole wrote a letter in which he demands that the Swiss turn over a lot of information related to U.S account owners.  The precise details of the letter are unclear, but there are speculations.  For a sample of the combination of facts and speculations, here is a sample the Reuters' article linked below:

The SonntagsZeitung quoted Swiss sources close to the talks as saying Washington is seeking details of all U.S. clients with accounts worth at least $50,000 between 2002 and 2010 at banks including Credit Suisse, private banks Julius Baer and Wegelin as well as the Zurich and Basel cantonal banks.

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