Use stolen bank data… legally
How can you use stolen bank data? Or rather: who can use stolen bank data? Last month a member of staff with HSBC allegedly took client files from his employer and ‘provided’ them to French authorities. The French were keen for the data for tax purposes; amongst HSBC clients in Switzerland there are a lot of French not reporting their Swiss saving accounts to their homeland inland revenue service. Can the French just use that stolen data file? Yes they can. In most European countries the government can use stolen data as long as they are not involved in stealing it themselves.
Now Germany takes it a step further; the German Ministry of Finance allegedly considers to buy the same ’stolen’ ‘HSBC files’ on Swiss bank accounts held by German citizens. German media reported over the weekend that an informant had offered data of up to 1,500 possible tax evaders with accounts in Switzerland which could lead to 100 million euros for state coffers…. for the reasonable price of 2.5 million euros….
The incident follows a similar case two years ago, when German authorities opened a tax-evasion probe aimed at hundreds of investors in Liechtenstein, using data purchased from a former employee of LGT Group. Crown Prince Alois, who rules Liechtenstein, called the probe an “attack” on his country.
Now The Netherlands’ tax authorities intend to use international tax treaties to get the file for free from the Germans. If the files hold data that is relevant for The Netherlands’ revenue service, there is a fair chance the data will be shared with them.. And so the stolen data spreads across Europe.
So while governments make a economic and ethical decision to pay for stolen data, banks are left with a challenge. What if word got out (yes it just did) that foreign governments are willing to pay millions of dollars for client files related to their (wealthy) citizens? Better get your bank’s security right.