One of the managing partners of a private bank in Geneva, Mirabaud says that there is a feeling within the banking community that an economic war has broken out between Switzerland and the rest of the world following the measures to try and breakdown Swiss banking secrecy.

In rare public comments, the Swiss private banker was quoted as saying: “There is a feeling in the banking community, and also in the population . . . that we are in an economic war. There is nothing easier than doing tax evasion in the US. Look at Delaware companies or trusts in the Channel Islands.”

He continued, “It is more than simply fighting against tax havens. Switzerland is a small country. It is not powerful.”

Recently, Swiss private banks have come under increasing pressure to relax their strict banking secrecy laws. They were forced to agree to ease laws following a US/German led campaign. Pressure is intensifying further as UBS are involved in a legal fight with US authorities over alleged assistance in tax evasion.

The Swiss private banker stated that UBS had “behaved poorly” and had not “helped the Swiss financial centre”. He added that discussions on bank secrecy had “cost us all a lot”.

Presently, it seems that there has been little impact on business although how the situation will evolve remains unclear.

Swiss private banks and politicians are adamant that “fishing expeditions” from foreign countries to find out customers’ names – known as the automatic exchange of information – will not be allowed.

“Privacy is very important for us in Switzerland. Automatic exchange of information is the negation of all this. In this case, we have some common interests with countries like the UK,” the Swiss banker said, alluding to offshore centres such as the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

He described the last few months as being “an unpleasant time” and added “We understand that we are in an economic war and we have our own weapons.”