Graduate Institute Publications has just released a new ePaper entitled The Swift Affair by Johannes Köppel which examines the national repercussions for Switzerland of the United States intelligence services surveillance of the SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) network.

After the September 11, 2001 attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, it was revealed in The New York Times and other newspapers that the United States intelligence services had infiltrated the SWIFT network and had access to practically any international money transfer data. Banks worldwide transfer money orders and personal customer data through the SWIFT network. The company SWIFT came under pressure for compromising its customers’ personal information and breaching privacy laws. While the surveillance was all-embracing in 2001, it has been gradually limited over the course of the last few years.

This ePaper examines the legality of the surveillance under US and European law as well as the evolution of the willingness of SWIFT to share data with US authorities. It delves into the Swiss dimension of the issue, giving a brief history of banking secrecy in Switzerland and assesses the importance of it in the country’s role as one of the major asset managing nations worldwide. The work provides a look at the current evolutions and challenges faced by Swiss banking secrecy.

In addition, The Swift Affair offers recommendations on how Switzerland can re-establish the trust of banking customers and the international community while trying to hold on to its banking secrecy which has faced continuous pressure.

The paper is based on official documents, newspaper articles as well as interviews with Swiss Government officials such as Senator Dick Marty, Tages Anzeiger Journalist Annetta Bundi and Professor Hans Gieger of the University of Zurich in addition to other high-ranking officials from Swiss financial institutions who wished to remain anonymous.

The SWIFT Affair received the Arditi Prize in 2010 for the best Master’s thesis in the field of international relations.

The paper is available online through Graduate Institute Publications.

Johannes Köppel is a Swiss national and received a Master in International Affairs from the Institute in 2009. The ePaper The Swift Affair is based on Mr Köppel’s Master’s thesis.