Offshore Banking Leaks

Once monolithic Swiss banks have lately been shown to have as many holes as ... swiss cheese.  The freshly leaked information provided to Wikileaks is a case in point.  http://www.cnbc.com/id/41153375/  And http://civilities.net/SwissWhistleBlower

Think of the secrets contained in those Swiss and offshore banks over the years!  Nazi gold.  Mafia money.  The assets of persons long dead.  It fires the imagination.

But most are just tax evaders and thieves and money-launderers of various types.  Boring crimes of tax law and accountancy.  One would have to be an accountant to even perceive what is happening.

What about this Rudolf Elmer, the source of the new leaks?  What motivates him?

And how could a bank assure its customers absolute loyalty and confidentiality?  Other than paying them obscenely well, which banks, at least Swiss banks, do not do?     One wonders.  A team of hit men, poised and ready to take out the families of any bankers who might otherwise be tempted to break ranks and run, data in hand?  Plot for a novel there.

For years I've been a fan of "financial thrillers," a fiction genre dealing with financial shenanigans and murder on Wall Street and also in Swiss banking.  Paul Erdman, an American who gained admission to the closed society of Swiss banking and then ran afoul of it, serving a time in a none too hospitable Swiss prison, founded the genre with a series of best sellers.