Private banks: Leaks present physical and semantic challenges

The latest in a line of leaks of client data from private banks has thrown the question of privacy and secrecy into the limelight again.

In January, Rudolf Elmer, former chief operating officer of Julius Baer, handed over information on 2,000 cross-border accounts held at his previous employer to whistleblower website WikiLeaks. Elmer said he wanted to reveal how the cross-border system facilitated tax evasion and the damage this was doing to society.

Last year two former employees of HSBC Holdings leaked files of thousands of wealthy clients at the firm’s Swiss private banking arm to several European governments to help them clamp down on tax evasion.