Swiss to open tax talks with US, may hold referendums

The Swiss government said today it would open talks with the US on a tax treaty at the end of April. This is an attempt to avoid the OECD “blacklist” concerning bank secrecy. To slow the process, the Swiss may make every bilateral tax treaty subject to a referendum…that should slow things to a crawl.

Also of note today, SNB board member Hildebrand has been elevated to the top spot at the bank, replacing Roth when he steps down later this year.

EUR.CHF is trading a bit firmer in the wake of the news as Hildebrand has been a vocal proponent of the SNB’s strategy to buy foreign currencies to ease monetary policy. We trade now at 1.5187.