Proof of your economic background – documents showing what you do for a living (bank statement, work contract, tax return, company documents, license, etc…). The exact documents depend on what you do for a living. Contact us to see what would be necessary in your case.
Proof of the origin of your deposits – documents showing the economic origin of your deposit. For example if you sell a house, we will need a proof of the sale, a copy of the realtor’s listing, etc…
Information about yourself and your deposits – We need to know your name, date of birth, address, etc… as well as how much you plan to deposit on the account,what you plan to do with the money once it is on the account.
This information is required in compliance with Swiss anti-money laundering laws and to understand your banking needs. All information submitted is held strictly confidential.
Opening an account in person
To open your account in person, you need to come to Switzerland personnally. Make sure your trip is successful:
Take an appointment by calling us ++41 21 331 48 48 or sending us an email info@micheloud.com . To take the appointment we will need some basic information about you and your banking needs such as your citizenship and country of residence, how much you plan to deposit, what you plan to do with the money and where the money comes from.
Bring documents to prove the economic origin of your deposits. When you take the appointment we will tell you what documents you can bring based on your situation.
You will meet first at our offices and then we accompany you at the bank to open the account. Most accounts are opened within 2 or 3 hours. From then on you deal exclusively with your bank manager.
Opening your account by mail
It is also possible to open most accounts by mail. Here is how it works:
We mail you opening documents (we cannot fax nor email them). You need to sign those documents and prepare documents about your economic background and the origin of your deposits (same documents when you open in person).
You need to get an authenticated photocopy of your passport with an apostille. This seal is used to certify that an official document is a true copy. In most countries you can get it from a notary public.
When we receive your documents back we will open your account at the bank. This usually takes 3 to 5 days. As soon as the account is opened you deal exclusively with your bank manager.
The whole procedure can be done in about 10 days but some clients need more. Don’t hesitate to call us ++41 21 331 48 48 or email at info@micheloud.com if you have any questions.
The information contained in this website is not meant to substitute qualified legal advice given by a specialist knowing your particular situation. We can accept no responsibility for the consequences of decisions made following information found on this website. Micheloud & Cie is not a bank and neither sollicits nor accepts deposits. Currency conversion and interest rates provided on this website are listed for informational purpose only and may not be up-to-date. More >>
This is not true. The majority of our clients are not major manufacturers or movie stars, but everyday people (business people, computer engineers, civil servants, etc.). Swiss banks are no longer only for stars.
You can open a Swiss bank account with a deposit of only 5,000 Swiss francs. We even offer accounts with no minimum balance.
2. Money invested in Switzerland yields no interest
Nothing could be more untrue. You can invest your money worldwide from your account in Switzerland through investment funds, bonds, the stock market, the purchase of metal values, raw materials, derivatives and many other types of investments. Swiss bankers are among the best finance managers in the world, so it comes as no surprise that they manage over 35% of offshore holdings.
3. It’s impossible to open an account in Switzerland by correspondence
This is not true. Most of the accounts that we offer can be opened by correspondence as long as you comply with our opening procedures and provide us with the necessary documents. What is more, your banking relations can be conducted by correspondence, using the telephone, Internet banking, bank transfer and credit cards. That said, we encourage our customers to meet with their banker at least once in order to get acquainted and see where their money is held.
4. Swiss bank accounts are very expensive to maintain
This is not true. Most of the accounts we open don’t charge a cent in annual fees. Even if you would like additional services such as retained correspondence or numbered banking relations, the annual fees are very reasonable.
5. It is difficult to close a Swiss bank account
On the contrary. You can close your account in Switzerland whenever you wish and without any restriction. You will pay no financial penalty. If need be, you will just have to realize your investments. Contrary to many onshore banking practices, your money is not held hostage by Swiss banks.
6. Swiss bank accounts attract only criminals and dictators
Not true! The vast majority of Swiss bank account holders are honest people who want to keep their savings in a country renowned for its stability. Swiss banks are extremely cautious regarding politicians who wish to open an account and they systematically refuse to accept any money that is of dubious origin or poorly founded.
7. Numbered accounts are anonymous
There are no anonymous accounts in Switzerland. A numbered account is an account that is identified solely by a number, rather than a name, in order to preserve the strictest confidentiality possible during teller transactions or bank transfers. Only the bank manager and a few select people know the identity of numbered account holders.
It is a surprise that India is still hiding behind ‘Secrets’.
A Credit Suisse banker has been arrested in connection with a long-running US tax evasion investigation and could be one of several individuals likely to face charges this week as prosecutors turn their focus from institutions to bankers and wealthy clients, said people familiar with the matter.
Christos Bagios was arrested about two weeks ago on entering the US and is in transit to a detention centre in southern Florida, according to the Bureau of Prisons’ website and people familiar with the matter.
Switzerland yesterday ended months of uncertainty over the diluting of bank secrecy when its parliament finally approved legislation allowing the transfer of the names of thousands of American clients of UBS suspected of evading tax owed to the US authorities.
The decision followed days of parliamentary wrangling that had threatened to delay a crucial treaty between Bern and Washington authorising the transfer. This could have triggered a crisis in bilateral relations and threatened the future of UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank.
Under the agreement, negotiated last August, Switzerland promised within a year to pass to the US authorities the names of 4,450 wealthy American UBS clients suspected of having undeclared accounts at the bank.
The bilateral agreement followed a lengthy US investigation that showed UBS had broken laws by helping Americans with offshore Swiss accounts evade tax through elaborate financial structures such as sham companies in Hong Kong and Panama.
In February 2009 UBS, the world’s second-biggest wealth manager, agreed to pay $780m to settle criminal charges.
However, the US authorities pursued a linked, but separate, civil action requiring the bank to release the names of about 19,000 US clients with offshore Swiss accounts.
Differences were only resolved last August through a special treaty between Bern and Washington, in which the Swiss promised to deliver the 4,450 UBS client names within a year.
Swiss parliamentary approval then became necessary after a top Swiss court ruled this year that the Bern-Washington deal broke the country’s bank secrecy law and the government should have gained parliamentary acceptance first.
On February 2, 2011,Schweizer Illustrierte sent me a comment as follows.
I again checked the link.
The information in German seems to confirm the information on Rajiv Gandhi.
May be I got my translation wrong.
If some one can confirm that the information on Rajiv Gandhi is wrong as per the magazine’s published Record,I hereby tender a Public Apology to Sonia Gandhi,Rajiv Gandhi and Family.
I have a few questions.
Why did the magazine take 10 years to deny?
Why did not Sonia Gandhi keep quiet this long?
What is the stand of India Today, Subramanian Swamy , S.Gurumurthy and the Indian Express?
Also note that the magazine , in its communication, has not denied it out right.
It says ‘as we think you might have cited it wrong’
Typical statement which while not confirming also does not categorically deny it.
If Schweizer Illustrierte’s article is wrong ,has Sonia Gandhi received an apology from them?
Questions, questions every where , not an answer to blink.
Please examine the content carefully, as we think you might have cited it wrong.
Regards Schweizer Illustrierte’
Story.
Senior BJP leader L.K. Advani has apologised to Congress President Sonia Gandhi for a party—appointed task force report, which had alleged that she and her late husband Rajiv had accounts in Swiss banks.
BJP had appointed the task force on unravelling the amount of black money stashed by Indians in foreign banks and ways to bring it back.
The report had alleged that Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi were among Indians who held Swiss bank accounts.
This had led Ms. Gandhi to write a letter to Mr. Advani denying the allegation.
Sources said in the letter, Ms. Gandhi had said that neither she nor her husband held Swiss bank accounts.
In his reply to the Congress President’s letter, Mr. Advani expressed regret of her name and that of her late husband being mentioned in the task force report.
However, Mr. Advani also stated in his reply that the Gandhis should have denied this publicly when there were murmurs that names of her family members could figure in the report.
How can one expect that Truth will come out in 2G and S Band Scam?
What is distressing is that the BJP has failed to unearth the sordid details.
It makes one wonder about the protestations by the opposition parties when they are not in power .
All seem to be in cahoots.
JPC or not, the show of inquiry will go on and nothing will come out of it.
Story:
The greed of Sonia Gandhi and her family has crossed all bounds of decency.
With just three weeks to go before the Congress-led UPA government’s term ends, Ottavio Quattrocchi, the lone surviving suspect in the Bofors payoff case, no longer figures in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)’s list of wanted persons.
The 12-year Interpol Red Corner Notice (RCN) against the Italian businessman has been taken off the “Interpol Notices” section of the agency’s website.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday said it was a “farewell gift” from the Congress-led government to a “close friend” of party president Sonia Gandhi.
CONGRESS PARTY – SHOVING BOFORS AND “Q” CONNECTIONS UNDER THE CARPET
In an article written on March 18th 2009: INDIA has $1.4 Trillion of Illegal money stashed in Swiss Banks – Time to bring it home !, I wrote in the first para: “Rajeev Gandhi’s untimely death left Sonia Gandhi extremely wealthy. The true extent of her wealth became known only when the Soviet archives were thrown open following the collapse of the Soviet Union. KGB archives revealed that as far back as 1982, when Indira Gandhi was still prime minister, Soviet trading agencies were channeling funds into a company controlled by her son and future Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
This was also brought to light by Harvard Russian scholar Yvgenia Albats in her book The State Within A State: The KGB and Its Hold on Russia. The Swiss news-magazine Schweizer Illustrierte (November 11, 1991) provided more details. Citing newly—opened KGB records, it reported that Sonia Gandhi, widow of the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, was controlling a secret account worth 2.5 billion Swiss francs (about 2 billion dollars at current exchange rates) in a Swiss bank in her minor son’s name.
“Dr. Yevgeniya Albats is a Soviet journalist who was appointed as member of the official KGB Commission set up by President Yeltsin in 1991. She had full access to secret files of the KGB.
PAYMENTS TO GANDHI FAMILY AUTHORIZED BY RESOLUTION IN RUSSIA:
Dr. Albats disclosed in her book that KGB chief Victor Chebrikov in December 1985 had sought in writing from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), ‘authorization to make payments in US dollars to the family members of Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, namely Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Ms Paola Maino, mother of Sonia Gandhi.’
CPSU payments were authorized by a resolution, CPSU/CC/No 11228/3 dated December 20, 1985; and endorsed by the USSR Council of Ministers in Directive No. 2633/Rs dated December 12, 1985. These payments had been coming since 1971, as payments received by Sonia Gandhi’s family, and ‘have been audited in CPSU/CC resolution No. 11187/22 OP dated October 12, 1984.’
How precise must one get to book the guilty? These are official KGB records.
INDIAN ATTITUDE AT G-20: LUKEWARM TO FRENCH PROPOSAL
The Indian delegation attending G-20 summit did not seem at all keen on supporting the French demand to make tax havens transparent and create a new global financial architecture that has more regulation.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh‘s reaction to the growing chorus for getting back ill-gotten wealth, squirreled in tax havens, has been quite casual. This makes it quite clear that he would not back the demands of French President, Nicholas Sarkozy, and others to regulate and tame the global financial system ahead of any coordinated stimulus.
Indians, Swiss bank sources claimed in 2006, have more than $ 1.4 trillion squirreled in their bank vaults. This figure could reach astronomical levels if the funds of Indians in other tax havens are added up. Experts estimate that the total quantum of money that has flown out to safe vaults abroad could go beyond $ 2-3 trillion dollars. So substantial is this amount that if it returns to India then it could make a serious difference in alleviating poverty and transforming its inadequate infrastructure. More importantly, it will also bring out in the open the identity of those who perpetrated this organised loot for so many years. Most of the illegal funds are sourced from defence deals, corruption and large scale siphoning off from development programmes. If the details of the Swiss bank account holders ever come out in the open, it will be a fascinating story of how India has been pauperised by its ruling elite.
CURIOUS CASE OF BILLIONS IN PUNE STUD FARM:CLOSE RELATIVE WITH CLOSE TIES WITH RULING PARTY !
For more than three years now, INDIA have not been able to make much headway in tracing the $ 8 billion found in a mysterious Pune-based stud farm owner’s account in UBS, Switzerland. The money trail led to Virgin Island and to Saudi arms leader, Adnan Khashoggi, but the enforcement agencies have drawn no conclusions as one of the partners of the stud farm owner is a close relative of a big business family with close ties with the ruling party. This old business family, besides other interests, also serves as agents of some arms manufacturers. The belief is that pressure from this powerful group has prevented government to take its probe with the UBS to its logical conclusion.
However, after UBS wilted under US pressure to release the details of their nationals that evaded tax and parked their funds with them, there has been a flicker of hope in other countries too, that such details may finally see the light of the day. Indians have not shown much urgency in following up on US government’s enterprise- due a host of reasons.
This is election time in India and a wrong time to follow bad money. Indian elections are funded through black money and a lot of cash sitting in foreign bank accounts returns through the hawala route.
DOMESTIC POLITICS: CONGRESS MAKES MONEY HERE TOO (and so does all other political parties too!)
Even in domestic politics it seems the Congress Party (referred to as Palm party) has made money making an art. The article by Maloy Krishna Dhar clearly alludes to a chain of command of making money .Maloy Dhar writes: What you have given here is the darshan money ( BuA: Indian word meaning giving money to someone just to see a person). It qualifies you to be short listed and your name to be forwarded by the Pradesh party to the High Command (HC). The High Command (whosoever it might be) would be the final arbitrator. The HC is helped by A, B. C. & D (no name please).
Once your name is forwarded, go over to Delhi with a few supporters meet A, B, C, & D with adequate lubricants. Carry trunk full of money. Do not forget to meet X Patel. He is the conscience keeper of the HC. Satisfy him with the demanded amount. The final satisfaction lay with the HC. If you have any conduit to reach the HC, spend lavishly and reach there. The entire process may cost you rupees 10 million (= Rupees one crore).
(BuA: Mr X Patel – hmmm, who can that be – Sonia’s close confidante – AHMED PATEL??, HC = High Command a possible reference to SONIA GANDHI).
It’s India’s money that has been looted by foreigners and corrupt middlemen and most treasonously – by the executive branch of defense department of Govt of India. For every sub-standard defense procurement, look no further than the tax havens abroad where our politicians have stashed our hard earned money for their family. I will certainly not tolerate a flight of my country’s capital by foreigners – again !
At a time when our poor farmers are languishing in debt burden and economic crisis is hurting the average Indian – this illegal money stashed abroad is making us seethe in anger.
Unwinding of tax havens, MANY OF THEM UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE UK GOVERNMENT, would ensure that the development funds marked for the poor in Africa, Latin America and Asia do not find their way to the safes of banks in foreign countries. After all, many of the multinational banks have been recipient of drug money and kickbacks. History would bear testimony that some of the money in these banks have origin in opium. The world would be a different place when arms dealers, mercenaries and war-mongers, drug dealers have no place to hide their cash. Surely, this would impact terror funding, covert wars and so much of misery that this unaccounted wealth heaps on the poor of the world.
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