• Financial Times, Thursday, January 17, 2008 1:30 PM

While bosses at UBS's Switzerland-based private banking activities for the Americas were pressing for higher targets, wealth managers have been finding their hands increasingly tied in dealing with U.S.-based clients. From looser rules in the past, the bank's most recent "Country Paper USA" of June 1 runs to more than eight pages of detailed do's-- and mainly don'ts--for traveling staff.

One temptation in the traditional "offshore" Swiss banking model has been for Switzerland-based private bankers to help--or at least hint to--clients on how to transfer assets to Switzerland, regardless of the legal implications. Executives from a number of other Swiss private banks, all of whom request anonymity, admit that, in the past, a blind eye has often turned to transgressions.

In the case of the U.S., regulations set clear limits on the activities of visiting foreign bankers, particularly for securities. Investment counseling, for instance, is only permissible from U.S. licensed advisers.

Read the whole story at Financial Times »