A leak of data involving 30,000 clients show that Credit Suisse failed in its due diligence responsibility to bar clients linked to illicit funds.
A recent leak by a whistleblower shows that the Swiss private banker, Credit Suisse has not lived up to expected due diligence level with regard to pledges to serve clients with dubious sources of wealth.
In the leak seen by several media outlets, it was shown that the bank has clients involved in illicit activities. Some of these high-risk individuals include a Philippines human trafficker, a stock exchange boss jailed for fraud in Hong Kong, executives of a Venezuela state-owned oil firm that looted the company’s fund and a businessman who ordered the assassination of his girlfriend in Lebanon.
A Vatican-Linked Account
A Vatican-linked account has been traced to a fraudulent investment in London. The client is already subject to internal investigation by the Vatican.
The leak was carried out by a whistleblower who first released the data to the German newspaper, Süddeutsche Zeitung with a note stating that they believe that the Swiss banking secrecy is immoral. They maintained that Swiss banks hide under the pretext of privacy to collude with dubious clients such as tax evaders and criminal elements.
Responding to the story, a crypto community member @tajocrypto stated that since Bitcoin transactions are easily traceable, that they discourage, instead of incentivize criminal activities, unlike fiat. He maintained that Bitcoin is the most transparent form of money.
“Every financial asset is susceptible to be used as a tool for crime. And fact still remains that Bitcion transactions can easily be tracked unlike any other financial asset and also BTC makes every transaction open to the public. There no form of money that’s as transparent as BTC“
With Bitcoin, there is no incentive to cover criminals who use the network. This is unlike what is obtainable with a centralized banking system where the bank would want to protect their interest and profit by covering the fact that their patrons are actually into illicit activities.
Credit Suisse Responds
In its reaction to the leak, Credit Suisse claimed that the Swiss banking secrecy laws bars it from commenting on the activities of individual clients.
The bank said that the leak involved selected information that had been taken out of context and rejected “strongly” insinuations of immoral banking practices.
Some of the countries whose citizens featured prominently in the leaks are Egypt, Venezuela, Ukraine and Thailand. The leak covered 30,000 other clients from 120 countries and involved some $109 billion.
