The Swiss Bankers Association has come out against an initiative launched by right-wing politicians in Switzerland which opposes changes to the law which reduce tax secrecy.

The Swiss Bankers Association has come out against an initiative launched by right-wing politicians in Switzerland which opposes changes to the law which reduce tax secrecy.

A group seeking to ban the automatic exchange of client data within Switzerland’s borders has now collected 100,000 signatures that will allow it to force a national vote on the issues involved.

The SBA said in a statement that it found the proposal “inexpedient” and had decided not to support it.

It argued that under the initiative, simple tax evasion remained possible and contradicted the objectives of a tax-compliant financial centre.

“The banks are not the tax police and are not responsible for their clients’ tax situations. The SBA is of the opinion that the initiative goes directly against this principle. The banks and the bankers would be exposed to increased liability risks and would have more responsibility, in that, for example, they could be compelled to testify against their clients,” the SBA said.

The initiative to protect bank secrecy was launched earlier this year by a group made up of members of the right-wing Swiss People’s Party, the centre-right Radical Party and the Christian Democratic Party.

The association said that a separate article in the Federal Constitution was unnecessary as the protection of privacy was already sufficiently enshrined in the constitution and the law.

“Any such article would seriously complicate potentially necessary future amendments to the tax laws,” the SBA said.

The latest development underlines the huge changes the Alpine state has undergone in recent years as it moves towards phasing out its tradition of bank secrecy, opening the way for the automatic exchange of bank data.

In May, the Swiss government adopted draft negotiation mandates to put in force a recently agreed global accord on automatically exchanging information on tax, a move seen as signalling the possible end of Swiss bank secrecy.

Earlier this month, the SBA said that cooperation with the European Union remains crucial for wealth and asset managers to secure cross-border service business and called on regulation to be adapted in order to remain competitive.

Relations between Switzerland and the EU have been complicated by a referendum in February in which the Swiss voted to curb immigration, which has stifled progress in agreeing bilateral agreements with the union.

Patrick Odier, chairman of the board of directors at the Swiss Bankers Association, said in a speech that the situation was “having painful consequences for the financial sector”, which risked becoming marginalised or even excluded as a result.