Automatic exchange of
bank data with Switzerland from 2021

Shared information will cover tax matters

Switzerland will start applying automatic exchange of financial information with Lebanon, starting from 2021.

Switzerland will provide details of bank accounts held by Lebanese nationals and by those with fiscal residence in Lebanon. Lebanon in its turn, will share information on banking details of accounts held by Swiss citizens and people with a fiscal residence in Switzerland.

The exchange of data pertains to tax matters and is performed with the Ministry of Finance, said Samir Hammoud Chairman of the Central Bank’s Banking Control Commission. He said that Lebanon is already abiding by the automatic exchange of information in tax matters with other countries.

Lebanon is one of 18 countries that Switzerland has recently agreed to exchange data with their tax authorities. The other countries are: Albania, Azerbaijan, Brunei, Dominica, Ghana, Kazakhstan, Macau, Maldives, Nigeria, Niue, Oman, Pakistan, Peru, Samoa, Saint Martin, Trinidad and Tobago and Vanuatu.

Abdul Hafiz Mansour, Secretary General of the Special Investigation Commission, said Switzerland was waiting for these countries to meet the requirements for an adequate reciprocal exchange of tax data.

The Swiss authorities have recently disclosed that they had provided details of around 3.1 million bank accounts held by foreign nationals (or those with a fiscal residence abroad).

Mansour said that recovering stolen public funds, if they are deposited in banks abroad, requires a legal procedure and judicial prosecution. Evidence must be provided such as bank transaction traces and records of travel of the suspects.