Europe closes in on tax havens; Austria agrees to swap bank data

Europe moved closer to ending banking secrecy on Wednesday after Austria dropped objections to sharing data on foreign depositors and the EU focused on negotiating a similar agreement with Switzerland.

"It's a bad day for tax cheats," Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann told reporters at a meeting of EU leaders to discuss fighting tax fraud. "We will act jointly and I believe we will manage the exchange of data by the end of the year."

Nearly all EU member states exchange information about which bank account holders receive what interest payments - an agreement known as the Savings Directive.

Luxembourg and Austria had not wanted to reveal the names of account holders to other countries and instead allow banks to withhold tax, but under pressure from their European partners both have now agreed to sign up to the code.