According to the industry’s largest trade body, oligarchs and other affluent Russians have stored as much as $214 billion in secretive Swiss bank accounts.
The Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) informed Reuters on Thursday that Swiss banks had between 150 billion and 200 billion Swiss francs ($160 billion to $214 billion) in Russian cash.
“Part of it is owned by Kremlin-aligned oligarchs.” “The money and their activity contribute to the financing of the conflict,” she added, adding that Switzerland “must do everything possible to shut down the money taps.”
The SBA assessment, which dwarfs early estimations of Russia’s credit exposure, highlights the enormity of the difficulty of applying sanctions, such as cash freezes.
There is a rising public debate in Switzerland regarding its role, with Social Democrat co-president Mattea Meyer pushing for Switzerland to seize any money belonging to Russians connected to President Vladimir Putin and his regime
