First Page
653
Abstract
The frequent connection between banking secrecy and various corrupt political and business practices has drawn considerable attention from non-secrecy states. In Europe, the issue presently is ripe because of the European Community's plans for a unified economy in 1992. This Note begins with a moral and historical examination of banking secrecy. Then, the author reveals the banking practices and legal structures through which banking secrecy is exploited. The author next sets forth the substantive banking secrecy laws of four European states and attempts to surmise the direction of their policies regarding banking secrecy. Next, the author describes past attempts, both unilateral and bilateral, to resolve the issue. Finally, the author proposes that, although a worldwide solution hardly is imminent, the increasing economic interdependence of small groups of states, such as the European Community, mandates serious consideration of multilateral approaches to resolve the international banking secrecy issue.
Recommended Citation
Richard J. Gagnon Jr.,
International Banking Secrecy: Developments in Europe Prompt New Approaches,
23 Vanderbilt Law Review
653
(1990)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/vjtl/vol23/iss3/4