Telling the good from bad in wealth management

Due diligence efforts, aided by sophisticated software, are growing at Swiss banks. But are they enough to prevent new cases coming to light of politically exposed persons (PEPs) stashing ill-gotten gains in Switzerland? At a recent conference in Geneva, a dark-suited group of executives met to talk about an issue that hasn’t gone away for Switzerland’s banks: that of dealing with politically exposed persons, or PEPs. As banking secrecy has moved to the sidelines, and financial institutions stirred to clean the country’s image regarding dirty money, boosting compliance departments has become the new norm within the sector. A blooming industry offering support services in data research on clients is another effect. “Information is tricky. Not all of it is accurate. There’s lots of false information. Who is going to screen that information?” asked David Ford, a former compliance director at Safra Republic and ex-head of anti-money laundering at HSBC Private Banking. …