Exchange of information and bank secrecy

Inevitably, the financial crisis of recent years has intensified scrutiny of bank secrecy. All major jurisdictions have agreed to limit their bank secrecy rules; in particular, where there are allegations of tax evasion or criminal fraud, obstacles in the way of cross-border exchange of information requests have been virtually eliminated. Yet this new 'transparency' has engendered many new legal distinctions and procedural rules in various jurisdictions which tax and legal practitioners must be knowledgeable about, and that is what this book sets out to elucidate. In 12 essays on this issue, this book analyses current bilateral and multilateral agreements on exchange of banking information, focusing particularly on the wide effect of the mutual assistance directives of the European Union. -- (provided by publisher).