Longtime readers of this blog may recall the time I learnt of a secret branch of a Swiss bank, operating out of an import-export company in Caracas. A large number of Venezuelan officers were known to make frequent visits to the underground branch, for no reasons connected to the company purported legitimate business. We confirmed its existence by having a client from the old days call the company and, dropping the name of an active money launderer that we knew to made cash deposits there, as a reference, asked for detail about the "services" provided there for the Swiss parent. Yes, they manager fell for it and confirmed the "full-service" nature of the secret branch.
Fast forward to 2021; A senior Swiss bank employee, based in Geneva, has advised that his bank maintains an entity, actually a broker, in Miami's downtown business district, to service the bank's US and Latin American clients. The client place their orders through this branch, which immediately mirrors these orders in Geneva. There are no open or pending positions; everything is done with typical Swiss efficiency, on a real-time basis. When a clients wants details of his holdings, it is sent to him through Switzerland.
We are not supplying any details of our whistleblower, other than the act he is in a unique position to know about operations of the underground branch, and that he disapproves. Perhaps someone in the Florida Office of Financial Regulation's Division of Financial Institutions might see this article an commence an investigation. If a Swiss bank wants to do business here, it must comply with Chapter 663 of the Florida Statutes. The "Miami Vice" days of banking in Miami are long gone; Somebody in Geneva apparently didn't get the message.
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