Investigating the interest rate impact of changing secret bank deposit laws

Abstract

Banks in many countries are governed by secrecy laws regarding the bank-customer relation-ship. Lately, many countries have been pressured to tighten secrecy laws to combat the abuse of bank secrecy by ill-gotten and criminal money. Switzerland has played a leading role in tightening secrecy conditions by passing new secrecy laws, closing loopholes in existing laws, and imposing restrictions on its traditionally independent banking industry. The theoretical monetary implications of changing secrecy conditions depend largely on banks' behavior regarding their deposit rate. This paper uses intervention time series analysis to test the monetary implications by investigating the effects of tightening secrecy laws on interest rates using Switzerland as a case study.