Hi guys,

I'm from the UK, and have a couple of questions concerning Swiss Banks. I've been googling for some time now, and came across this site, but I still haven't managed to find the answers I'm looking for, so I hope someone can help me.

Basically, I've read up on the Swiss Bank Secrecy Laws, and from what I can gather, it seems as if the Swiss still hold their secrecy regulation (it's still in the law), but that if you're an EU resident, then there is a withholding tax on interest earned. The only exception is UBS and CS have agreed to exchange information with the US IRS. Is that right? I.e. will they not exchange information with the UK government?

What I'd like to know is, can a UK resident open a Swiss Bank account without going down to Switzerland itself? And will this money remain purely private?

Thanks guys.