Swiss Bank Account: Difference between revisions
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In real life, the usefulness of these numbered accounts is limited, due to how hard it is to get one nowadays... The Swiss, well aware of their banks' increasing reputation as havens for no-good-niks (not particularly helped by their willingness to stash Nazi Gold, though they were originally formed to help people ''hide'' money from the Gestapo), require numerous references and a general OK from the person's country of origin.
[[Useful Notes|To be noted]]: truly ''anonymous'' bank accounts are a thing of fiction. Even if protected by a code number, the identity of the client (and usually the source of the funds as well) is known by the chairman and high-ranking personnel of the bank, either in Switzerland or other tax havens. Money laundering and stashing of dubious funds are the province of [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|professional accountants and economists]], who know [[Honest John's Dealership|how to give a decent face]] to the business they manage. The structures are usually fairly complex and involve creating a string of shell corporations with nominee directors in various friendly jurisdictions; those corporations in turn hold bank accounts or other assets. A Swiss bank account alone, in your own name, provides little. Don't try to [[Screw the Rules, I Have Money|just approach a bank]] with a [[Briefcase Full of Money]] and no plausible story and expect it to work.<ref>Many countries have laws that require the reporting of all deposits of certain amounts (in the US, it's $10,000) to the government anyway</ref>
In more recent stories, an account in an offshore tax haven, such as the Cayman Islands, may be substituted.
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== Comic Books ==
* In the [[Tintin
* In ''[[Asterix]] in Switzerland'', Petitsuix opens a Helvetian bank account and stashes Asterix and Obelix in a safe to hide them from the Romans. They get hungry in the middle of the night and, since the safe wasn't meant to be opened from inside, Obelix simply kicks the door off its hinges. The bank's owner, Zurix, has the Gauls moved to someone else's safe. That someone else turns out to be the Roman centurion who comes searching for the Gauls, finds the broken safe and questions the bank's security.
== Film ==
* In the film version of ''[[The Bourne Series (
* ''[[
* ''The Spanish Prisoner''.
{{quote|
* There's one in ''Smiley's People''.
* ''The Order''. The character Ben Nur has one.
* General M. Bison from the ''[[Street Fighter (
* ''[[Fun
* A group of mercenaries in the 1985 comedy ''[[Water]]'':
{{quote|
'''Mercenaries:''' Viva franc! Viva deutschmark! Viva dollar! Viva numbered bank account in Switzerland! }}
* At the end of ''[[FX
* In the film ''Samurai Cop'', the villian Fujiyama is accused of being a 'death merchant' who deposits his vast riches into a Swiss account
== Literature ==
* In [[Robert Ludlum]]'s ''[[The Bourne Series (
* [[Robert Ludlum]], again, plays with the lazy version of the trope in ''The Ostermann Weekend''. The protagonist discovers that a man who may be a foreign spy has a Swiss bank account, and considers this to be Evidence, but it turns out that the man is innocent, and his response to being accused of having a Swiss bank account is basically, "Yes, I do. What's your point?"
* ''[[
* In [[Tom Clancy]]'s ''[[Rainbow Six]]'', Dmitri Popov sets up a Swiss Bank Account for the terrorists he's hired, as a secure way to transfer their payment to them. Once it becomes obvious that they're going to fail at the mission, he transfers all the money to an account he set up for himself.
** In ''Clear And Present Danger'', the mystique of this trope is bluntly deconstructed, not only because the Cartel having their drug accounts in Swiss banks does nothing to protect them from seizure once their illegality is discovered, but it's explicitly pointed out the only thing that makes the banks more secure is that fact the countries they reside in weren't invaded as much, giving the illusion of security.
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* ''[[Burn Notice]]''
** Episode "Friends and Enemies":
{{quote|
'''Gregory Hart:''' I work for a 16-digit Swiss bank account number, and an anonymous email address. }}
** Michael's friend Barry specializes in setting those up and using them to launder money for criminals and spies.
** In one episode a government agent is trying to bully Michael so he has Barry set up an offshore account in the agent's name. They then move the same few thousand dollars in and out of the account repeatedly to make it seem like the agent is receiving payoffs through the account. Michael then blackmails the agent with this to have him back off.
* ''[[Mission: Impossible (TV series)||Mission Impossible]]'': In "the Council" episode, the mobsters are using a swiss bank account.
* In ''[[Human Target]]'' Season 2 premiere Ilsa (a a good person) has a vault in a Swiss bank which can only be entered with retina scans of both Ilsa and her late husband; the bad guy uses her (in a hostage situation) and [[Borrowed Biometric Bypass|her dead husband's eyeball, removed from his body]] to get in to steal their billions. In another episode she transfers a couple mil from her Swiss bank to a local bank specifically in order to draw out some [[Dirty Cop
* An episode of ''[[Murphy Brown]]'' had a millionaire fall in love with Murphy and shower her with expensive gifts to try to get her to marry him, until he flat out tries to bribe her with a large check. She says no, the guy finally relents...and proposes to Kay, who immediately accepts. Murphy is horrified and calls Kay out on this...
{{quote|
** Because [[Status Quo Is God]] the guy divorces her and takes back the money. However Kay managed to keep [[Ben Stein]] as her man servant.
* The unsophisticated drug lord Marlo Stanfield from ''[[The Wire]]'' has to be introduced to this trope (Antillean off-shore version) and even then he decides to visit the bank in person to verify that his money is actually there.
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== Theatre ==
* In ''[[Evita]]'', the corrupt government's lavish spending is explained in the song "And The Money Kept Rolling In (and Out)", which is all about Eva's charity work until the last verse:
{{quote|
Cream a little off the top for expenses--wouldn't you?
But where on Earth can people hide their little piece of Heaven?
Thank God for Switzerland
Where a girl and a guy with a little petty cash between them
Can be sure when they deposit no-one's seen them
Oh what bliss to sign your checks as three-o-one-two-seven
Never been accounts in the name of Eva Peron! }}
== Video Games ==
* In ''[[Mega Man (
* ''Druglord'': The player-character's bank is supposed to be a Swiss bank.
* In the game ''[[Tropico]]'', one of the scoring metrics is how much money you can embezzle into your Swiss bank account.
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* In one episode of ''[[G.I. Joe Extreme]]'', Rampage mentions he'll transfer the money he got from a deal to his Swiss bank account.
* The Cayman Islands version appears in ''[[The Simpsons]]'', "Bart the Fink":
{{quote|
''(hangs up)''
Oh, crap. I shouldn't have said he was a customer.
Oh, crap. I shouldn't have said it was a secret.
Oh, crap! I certainly shouldn't have said it was illegal.
''(sighs)''
It's too hot today. }}
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[[Category:Money Tropes]]
[[Category:Crime and Punishment Tropes]]
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