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Money parked by Indians in Swiss Banks jumped to a 14-year-high of CHF 3.83 billion in 2021 on the back of rise in holdings and customer deposits, latest data from Zurich-based Swiss National Bank (SNB) released on Thursday showed.
The money parked by Indians had shown a decline in 2018 and 2019 but has again picked up. Marking the second consecutive year of rise, aggregate funds by Indians increased from 2.55 billion Swiss francs in 2020. ‘Total liabilities’ of Swiss banks or ‘amounts due to’ their Indian clients at the end of 2021 of CHF 3,831.91 million included CHF 602.03 million in customer deposits (up from CHF 504 million at 2020-end), CHF 1,225 million held via other banks (up from CHF 383 million), and CHF 3 million through fiduciaries or trusts (up from CHF 2 million).
The highest component of CHF 2,002 million (up from CHF 1,665 million) was ‘other amounts due to customers’ in the form of bonds, securities and various other financial instruments. The total amount stood at a record high of nearly 6.5 billion Swiss francs in 2006, after which it mostly declined, except for a few years including in 2011, 2013, 2017, 2020 and now in 2021, as per the Swiss National Bank (SNB) data.
India and Switzerland had, for automatic sharing of financial account information, signed a Joint Declaration on November 22, 2016 for activation of AEOI in tax matters between the two nations. The use and disclosure of the information received is governed by the confidentiality provisions of the India-Switzerland tax treaty.
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According to the SNB, its data for ‘total liabilities’ of Swiss banks towards Indian clients takes into account all types of funds of Indian customers at Swiss banks, including deposits from individuals, banks and enterprises. This includes data for branches of Swiss banks in India, as also non-deposit liabilities.
Total customer deposits across the Swiss banking system, comprising 239 banks, rose in 2021 to nearly CHF 2.25 trillion. The overall funds of foreign clients, including institutions, rose to nearly CHF 1.5 trillion. In terms of assets (or funds due from customers), Indian clients accounted for CHF 4.68 billion at the end of 2021, up 10 per cent. The UK topped the list for foreign clients’ money in Swiss banks at CHF 379 billion, followed by the US (CHF 168 billion). Other countries in the top 10 were West Indies, Germany, France, Singapore, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, Bahamas, the Netherlands, Cayman Islands and Cyprus. India was placed at 44th place, ahead of countries like Poland, South Korea, Sweden, Bahrain, Oman, New Zealand, Norway, Mauritius, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Hungary and Finland.
