THE AUSTRIAN SPARBUCH BANK ACCOUNT
Over the years, banking secrecy has been seriously eroded,
even in tradional banking havens like Switzerland, where
banks are now required to be aware of the benificial owners
of secret accounts, and under pressure from the U.S., almost
900 court ordered breaches of banking confidentiality laws
have taken place since 1991.
Banks in 'off-shore' tax havens like the Bahamas,
Luxembourg, Cayman Islands etc have also been pressured
to disclose the identity of their clients. Should a local court in
a particular jurisdiction refuse outside pressure for
information where the alledged crime is tax evasion,
authorities in several countries may apply to that court with
allegations of drug involvement in order to gain information
on which of their citizens might have undeclared holdings.
Now that Switzerland has lost its tradition as the ultimate
confidential tax haven, all is not lost. Its neighbour, Austria
has something to offer those who seek confidentiality from a
bank account. In fact the Austrian banking laws, where
disclosure of client details to a third party by banking officials
is an imprisonable offence, are likely the most confidential in
Europe if not the world.
Often called 'Europe's best kept banking Secret' the Austrian
Sparbuch is as old as banking itself. The Sparbuch, literally
translated is 'savings book', and accounts can be held in
either German Deuchmarks or Austrian schillings. The
schilling is closely pegged to the German Mark and is
therefore a very stable currancy, not like the free floating,
highly volatile U.S. dollar. You can expect 20 plus Austrian
schillings to the dollar sterling.
Deposits to the Sparbuch account can be made in any
currancy after first converting that currency into Austrian
schillings. Austrian banks offer some of the best rates in
Europe for currency conversion.
Deposits can also be by direct wire transfer, known as 'Swift',
or by check presented personally or by mail to the issuing
bank. Interest can be around 3% to 5%, but all interest is paid
gross without withholding tax being deducted. Should you
wish to give the bank 12 months notice of withdrawl the
interest rate can be raised to around 6% to 8%. On the other
hand, the beauty of the Sparbuch is not the amount of interest
it might yield , but that of its confidential nature.
To withdraw funds, you present the Sparbuch in person at
any branch of the issuing bank, and giving what is called the
'Losungswort' or code word, make a withdrawl. Having both
book and codeword will ensure no further identification will be
asked for. You can also send the Sparbuch and code word
by registered mail asking that the funds in the account be
transfered to anywhere in the world.
The issuing bank does not want or ask for an address as no
statements are ever sent out. The Sparbuch is updated with
interest etc when mailed or presented at the bank. This means
that a paper trail is not made so if anyone is monitoring your
mail like a tax authority or spouse, nobody will wonder why
you receive regular mail from Austria, and nobody can find
self explanatory bank statements from your Sparbuch
account. If security has to be tight, be very careful where you
keep the actual Sparbuch; also if you mail the Sparbuch to
the issuing bank you may want the return address to be either
an accommodation address or the address of a very trusted
friend, or arrange to collect the Sparbuch when next either
you or a trusted friend visit the bank.
The Sparbuch is not designed for standing order payments,
and if you cannot prove you are an Austrian national by
showing a national I.D. card the bank will refuse you an
account. On request the bank will issue you a Sparbuch as a
'foreign' account , in which case you will be required to show
your passport, the details of which will be copied and sent to
the Austrian National Bank where the possibility exists they
will inform certain authorities. This is often
standard practise where a foreigner opens a bank account in
a country other than his own. The possibility exists that such
information might just filter back to the local tax authority who
might then start to make enquiries, the likes of which you
might have difficulty answering to.
The Sparbuch does have yet another advantage: whilst it can
be held as a named account, it is also available labelled
'Anonym' or anonymous and the word 'Uberbringer' or bearer
stamped on the front cover. As the name suggests, whoever
has the passbook and can give the codeword will have
access to the account. It will not be possible to establish who
opened the account because no name and address were ever
asked for in the first place, assuming the person opening the
account had only to show that he had an Austrian I.D.
The advantage of this anonymous account is that you can
clear checks and money orders etc that have any name on
them and not just a particular name that must match a named
account. Because this is an an anonymous account, no tax
collector, ex spouse or even the bank itself can identify who
actually owns the account. Behold, one of the very few truly
anonymous bank aacounts in the world, that require no
address details, can be in your own or any name or held as
an anonymous account, assuming you can come up with an
Austrian I.D.
Austrian attorneys, however, may open Sparbuch accounts
for clients without having to disclose the benificial owner of
the account, and once opened would not be subject to any
changes in the law in that such accounts would be registered
as just normal accounts and not as accounts belonging to
non Austrian Nationals.
Along with the 'Losungswort' or code word which can be
changed at any time by yourself to whatever may suit you,
having informed the bank first, there is also the
'Kontrollnummer' for added security. This is a set of figures
either on the inside or pack page of the Sparbuch, which will
be held by the bank on computer.
To conclude, in order to aquire a Sparbuch, and to maintain it
anonymously, you can arrange for an Austrian attorney to
legally open an account for you. If you have a friend who is
an Austrian national (and one you can trust) you could
arrange for the opening of a Sparbuch. Finally it is possible
to purchase accounts with an opening deposit of 100
schillings by mail from adverts in magazines which cater for
off-shore investors. Cost would be $400 -$500.
