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 pound 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 cheque 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 the Comptroller of the Bank England. 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 cheques 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 pening deposit of 100 schillings by mail from adverts in magazines which cater for off-shore investors. Cost would be £200 -£250.