Swiss banking secrecy rule dealt fresh setback in a month to forget

Information on 2 million accounts just shared under new rules

Two events this month may have finally brought the curtain down on secrecy rules that were the key to Geneva and Zurich’s private banking heyday, when foreign clients could come armed with suitcases of cash and their bankers would look the other way.

Swiss tax authorities announced they’d shared details on 2 million accounts with other countries for the first time as part of rules on information exchanges introduced last year. Then last week Switzerland’s Supreme Court said a former Julius Baer Group Ltd. executive didn’t break secrecy rules, ruling Swiss law didn’t apply at the Cayman Islands unit where he