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A US-based Opalesque reader sent us a report published last week in French daily Les Echos:

Swiss banks have been under pressure from attacks against bank secrecy for two months. The offensive launched by the IRS has snowballed and now the French and German governments would also like to find out the names of their citizens holding Swiss bank accounts. It's "all hands on deck" in the staid salons of Swiss private banks to avoid putting foreign clients in danger. Security measures are on the rise. Managers of Geneva private banks have been prohibited from carrying their professional telephones, especially Blackberrys, iPhones and other "smart phones" when leaving Swiss soil, even for a simple trip to neighboring France. Bankers fear that client information will fall into the hands of the tax collector.

Is it paranoia? Maybe not. In early April, passengers on the TGV train from Geneva to Paris were treated to an incredible surprise visit. A few kilometers from the departure, at the Bellegarde station, the train was assaulted by some twenty French customs agents. Were they looking for a dangerous terrorist or a drug trafficker? Apparently not, since the agents mostly checked individuals in suits and ties as well as their mobile phones. "They clearly targeted travelers who looked like bankers or financiers" according to one person who was checked. Thanks to an electronic devise, the agents recorded French telephone numbers they found on the "suspects'" cont......................

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