At its meeting on 9 May 2018, the Federal Council adopted the dispatch on the approval of the agreements on the automatic exchange of information on financial accounts (AIA) with Singapore and Hong Kong.
According to the media release, the Federal Council is requesting the Federal Assembly to authorise the Federal Council to ratify the two agreements, since the AIA has so far only been applied provisionally as of 1 January 2018 (see also our contribution of 15 October 2017). It also proposes as an option to implement the AIA with Singapore and Hong Kong based on the multilateral agreement between the competent authorities on the automatic exchange of information on financial accounts.
In addition, the Federal Council proposes to activate the AIA from 2019 with other financial centres based on the multilateral agreement. The first data should be exchanged from 2020 onwards. This will affect the financial centres of Anguilla, Bahamas, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Nauru in a non-reciprocal manner and the financial centres of Panama and the Caribbean overseas communities of the Netherlands (Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba) in a reciprocal manner.
The press release and other documents are available here.
