Austria will discuss lifting its banking secrecy policy for foreign depositors, Chancellor Werner Faymann said Tuesday following EU criticism about the country’s continued refusal to abandon the controversial measure.
“We will conduct the negotiations together with Luxembourg,” Faymann told journalists. “Yes, we will negotiate.”
The Austrian chancellor insisted however that banking secrecy was protected by the constitution and that any sharing of information would not impact Austrian depositors.
Austria and Luxembourg are the only European Union members that do not participate in an automatic exchange of information on EU residents who have bank accounts in their countries.
Luxembourg announced over the weekend however that it was prepared to lift the controversial measure.
In an interview with the daily Kurier published Tuesday, Faymann noted that “the reputation of the country is at stake.”
On Monday, a spokesman for EU Tax Commissioner Algirdas Semeta had called it “unacceptable” that Austria was refusing to sign up to an EU-wide push towards an automatic sharing of information on bank account holders.
Austria to discuss lifting bank secrecy
