HSBC Holdings Plc’s Swiss private bank last September asked clients and independent money managers to surrender their right to banking secrecy protection in order to keep securities invested in 28 countries.

“The main objective of this document is to obtain the prior consent of the client to renounce Swiss banking secrecy before investing in regulated markets which demand the disclosure of his identity,” the letter said.

Switzerland has agreed to exchange fiscal and bank information with countries including France and the US as it renegotiates tax treaties in a bid to avoid being blacklisted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Under Swiss law, bankers can be fined or jailed for disclosing a client’s identity without permission.

In the letter, HSBC also “strongly recommends” that independent money managers renounce banking secrecy for clients who want to invest in the US, Germany, the UK, Russia, Singapore and seven other markets. Market regulators in those countries can request investor identities, the bank said.

Credit Suisse Group AG, Switzerland’s biggest bank by market value, is asking clients holding French securities to let it release their details to France’s financial regulator. Credit Suisse, in a June 24 letter, gave clients until September 1 to respond, or their French positions would be sold.

Geneva-based newspaper Le Temps reported the HSBC letter earlier Friday.

Source: Bloomberg