The enforcement record: Italian investigations of Swiss banks and bankers

The inspections of October 2009

The first visible sign that Italy would enforce its rules against Swiss banks came during the third tax amnesty, the scudo fiscale of 2009, which Chapter E.II describes. In October 2009 the Guardia di Finanza inspected 76 branches of Swiss banks and their agents in Italy, together with some banks near the border with San Marino. UBS and Credit Suisse branches were among those visited. The authorities stated that the inspections were intended to ensure that banks and their agents met their obligations to report their financial relationships with clients to the Italian tax register, which covered transactions of EUR 1,500 or more.¹ The inspections were directed at the Italian establishments of Swiss groups. In Ticino they were nevertheless understood as a message, since they took place while the amnesty was open and showed that Italian authorities were prepared to follow Italian money to the doors of Swiss institutions.

The political context was tense. The Italian Minister of Economy and Finance, Giulio Tremonti, had made the repatriation of capital from Switzerland a theme of his policy. Ticino responded in 2011 by temporarily freezing half of the tax refunds owed to Italian border municipalities under the agreement on cross-border workers of 1974. Chapter H.I describes this episode.² For the banks, the lesson of 2009 was that their Italian branches and representative offices would be scrutinized, and that the activity of Lugano-based relationship managers in Italy would be examined through the files of the Italian clients who had used the amnesty.

The Florence investigation "Ricchi e felici"

The most detailed Italian investigation of cross-border activity directed from Ticino concerned financial advisers. In October 2013 the Guardia di Finanza of Florence began an operation that the press reported under the name "Ricchi e felici" (rich and happy). In April 2015 the court in Florence suspended eighteen financial advisers (promotori finanziari) from their activity for one to two months. They were under investigation for abusive financial activity under Article 166 TUF with transnational aggravating circumstances. According to the investigators, the advisers had identified clients in Tuscany and other regions who wished to invest abroad. Cash had been collected in hotels and carried to Switzerland by couriers on behalf of a Swiss financial company that had no Italian authorization. In the first half of 2013 alone the organization was alleged to have collected more than EUR 200 million. One episode concerned the handover of more than EUR 300,000 in a Florence hotel to a private banker from Lugano, who was arrested.³

The case is significant because it shows how Article 166 TUF operates against the crossborder model of the lira economy. The courier, the hotel meeting and the cash deposit, familiar from Chapter D.II, here appear as elements of unauthorized investment services provided in Italy. The prosecutors did not need to prove that the clients evaded tax, since the abusive activity itself was the offence. The published reports do not record the final outcome of the proceedings against the individuals concerned, and the persons involved are entitled to the presumption of innocence unless a final judgment has established their guilt.

Notes

1. Tom Burroughes, "Italian Police In Mass Inspection Of Swiss Bank Branches", Family Wealth Report, 28 October 2009, https://www.familywealthreport.com/article.php/Italian-Police-In-Mass-Inspection-Of-Swiss-Bank-Branches-. ↩
2. Andrea Clementi, "Il vil denaro fa litigare Svizzera e Italia", swissinfo.ch, 26 July 2011, https://www.swissinfo.ch/ita/il-vil-denaro-fa-litigare-svizzera-e-italia/30747038 (decision of the cantonal government of 30 June 2011 to freeze CHF 28.5 million, half of the refunds due under the agreement of 1974). ↩
3. "Portavano soldi all'estero: sospesi e indagati 18 promotori", Bluerating, April 2015, https://www.bluerating.com/banche-e-reti/43684/portavano-soldi-allestero-sospesi-e-indagati-18-promotori. The names of the persons involved are omitted here. ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of August 2025.