NewsTracker Answers for week of Jan. 07, 2013

Q: Founded in 1741, Swiss bank Wegelin announced it was closing after it became the first foreign bank to plead guilty to helping Americans evade their taxes. Where is Switzerland on this map?

Circle the area on this map

Q: Thirteen other Swiss banks are under investigation by U.S. tax authorities, and the Wegelin case has seriously upset the financial community in the nation's largest city . . .

A. Zurich

B. Bern

C. Geneva

D. Berlin

A. Zurich and Switzerland's second largest city, Geneva, are among the world's major financial centers. Bern is the Swiss capital, and Berlin is the capital of Germany.

Q: Swiss bankers fear the pursuit of wealthy tax cheats by the United States and many other countries could threaten Switzerland's bank secrecy laws. Who else has been helped by banking secrecy?

A. Refugees

B. Gangsters

C. Politicians

D. All of the above

D. Banking secrecy in Switzerland and many other countries has helped people fleeing political and ethnic repression, like many of the German Jews escaping the Holocaust. But, it also has helped the world's criminals hide their illegal income and dictators hide money they looted from their countries.

Q: Switzerland passed a law to strictly enforce bank secrecy in 1934 after a scandal involving politicians, industrialists and church leaders in the nation on its western border . . .

A. Austria

B. France

C. Germany

D. Italy

B. Switzerland is bordered by Germany to the north, France to the west, Italy to the south, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. In the French scandal, a member of parliament accused eminent French personalities of hiding money in Swiss banks that lent funds to France's rival Germany.

Q: World War II broke out five years after Switzerland passed its secrecy law. What did Switzerland do in that conflict?

A. Allied itself with Germany

B. Allied itself with France

C. Remained neutral

C. In an 1815 peace conference, European powers agreed to permanently recognize Swiss neutrality. While Germany made detailed plans to invade Switzerland in World War II, it never attacked.