Switzerland was among the 34 OECD member countries who signed the Declaration on Automatic Exchange of Information in Tax Matters last week in Paris. This means that participating countries and jurisdictions will be obliged to obtain financial information from their financial institutions and exchange that information automatically with other jurisdictions on an annual basis.

Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and South Africa also signed the declaration along with the 34 OECD member countries. The declaration commits countries to implement a new single global standard on automatic exchange of information. More than 60 countries and jurisdictions have now committed to early adoption of the standard, and additional Global Forum members are expected to join this group in the coming months.