Banking in Switzerland

Bank is of crucial part in functioning of the society. Banking systems were created to help the society to set the new standards of life and contribute to prospering. The contemporary bank systems have faced a lot of problems and challenges, and, unfortunately, not all banks can cope with them. Stronger banks appear in the countries with more or less stable financial, economic, political systems. When the society has problems in the level of life it means that, first of all, economic and political systems are somehow undermined, and the government should switch into the process in order to adopt the new alterations and to change the life of population for the better. What I’m drawing at is that people should definitely look for more secure services from the banks and if sometimes we feel like we don's deserve to be treated well, this thought will might turn into our reality. So, approaching closer,definitely, there’s a reason why people store their funds and capitals within the Swiss banks, right? Especially, Russians? ))

So, this article will highlight advantages and disadvantages of banking system in Switzerland (http://wikipedia.org)(however, what disadvantages there can be if it turns out to be one of the best systems all over the world?).

As you know, in all the countries banking systems are regulated by a certain organ, in one country, for example, in the USA – it’s Federal reserve, or FED, all Swiss banks are regulated by Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). Swiss banking system turns out to be really old and can be traced back to the Middle Ages where the first bank secrecy appeared and was thus codified by the law in 1934. Switzerland appears to be the most prosperous country in which the gross domestic products are higher than in the other European countries. The truth about Swiss banks is rather different from that one which we used to see in Hollywood movies. The point is that Swiss banks welcome the flows of capitals from abroad especially from Western countries, but it doesn’t mean that all these accounts are only for rich, crooks or dishonest government officials. An average person can enjoy one’s rights for privacy within the Swiss bank and thus to apply for creating an account. What you need to do is simply to have at least 15,000 $ on your investment account). The most popular Swiss banks within Switzerland are The Swiss Credit Bank in Zurich, The Union Bank in Switzerland, The Bank Leu (AG) in Zurich, The Swiss Bank Corporation in Basel and The Swiss Volksbank in Berne. So, what is the feature distinguishing  Swiss banks from any others, for instance, from the US banks? The thing is that when making deposits or just creating an account, Swiss banks are not allowed to reveal the information to nobody from your relatives, to any account to anyone, even to the Swiss government. The services of the Swiss banks are just like elsewhere: checking accounts, savings accounts, custodial accounts and so on. You can withdraw your money in any currency you want to: francs, dollars, euro, whatever you like. You can apply for the account in any form you want. If you worry about the power of attorney, you can visit the bank and to open it in private, however, the online system is also flexible and somehow secure, however the certain procedures are to be kept in mind in order not to become the victim of swindle within the Internet.

Something About Banks

Transactions and various types of financial operations have become one of the crucial moments in our lives. With appearance of the bank all the financial operations have become more arranged and facilitated. Consequently, there are various types of the banks depending upon their functions, prices, services they offer and of course the number of customers (the bank functions with loans and deposits as well as credits, agency functions, financial assistance, basing upon cash credits in which you can receive and withdraw the money from the bank account up to a certain limit; overdraft which allows you to withdraw from the bank more than under the certain credit limit, discounting of bills which means that you can receive a discount if you settle your credit dues before the deadline date; besides banks suggest saving deposits, current deposits or demand deposits which can be withdrawn at any time by cheques). As it was mentioned before banks differ upon the functions carried out. These can be credit unions (institution owned by members or customers), online banks (online banks have wider spectrum of activities starting from online customer consultation services and ending up with money deposits and withdrawal and many others), central banks (central banks specialize upon managing of banking activities - within the USA it’s FED, or Federal Reserve. The banking activities may include the following: conduction of money policies, supervision and regulations of financial companies, financial services provision etc.), retail bank services (the functions are checking and savings accounts, CDs, safe deposit boxes etc.), commercial banks (they lend money for real and capital purchases, letters of credit, lockbox services etc.). 
As the UK takes the second place in the list of top world banks with its Royal Bank of Scotland after  BNP Paribas, France (and it's not the only British bank in the list, there are also Barclays, on the forth place, and Lloyds Banking group plc.on the seventh place), it's rather clear that Britain plays a great part in regulation of world financial activities.

Speaking about British banks.In the UK, according to money supermarket.com, in the 2010/2011 years in particular, 2,6 million of British savers can be dropped out of a collective £362 million. The financial prognoses emphasise that over 50% of savers would keep their £5,100 cash ISA allowance. The head of Banking and Credit Cards at moneysupermarket.com, Kevin Mountfourd (http://uk.linkedin.com/) claimed that because of financial and economical instability the savings of depositors may also be impacted. Nevertheless, Kevin Mountfourd advises to utilize tax free allowance for the returns to be maximized.

To conclude, I should point out that the main thing you need to do when making deposits is to find as much information as possible about the bank you’re going to trust your money to and funds to. Internet is a great source of information where you can find what you need however, it should be definitely taken critically, as there are some sources which you can trust and upon which you in no way should rely. Similarly, there are a lot of scammers which would swindle with your privacy and private information about credit cards etc. So, keep your eyes open when relying upon a certain source.