A few years ago, I read Christopher Reich’s massive novel, Numbered Account, billed as an inside look at the "anonymous" world of offshore banking.
While the book is definitely a page-turner, it’s not a particularly accurate portrayal of the Swiss banking industry, which the book portrays as providing dictators, narcotics kingpins, and terrorists with anonymous access to global financial markets and electronic funds transfer networks.
One of the book’s biggest faults—and of most works in this genre—is that that it blurs the distinction between an anonymous account and a numbered account.
An anonymous account is exactly that; the bank at which it’s opened has no idea as to the identity of its customer. While it was once possible to open truly anonymous accounts using attorneys or other intermediaries in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and other offshore centers, no major financial center still offers them. Switzerland, for instance, abolished anonymous accounts in 1991; Liechtenstein and Austria did so in 2000.
Unlike an anonymous account, with a numbered account, you must disclose your identity to a bank, and fully comply with the bank’s due diligence and know-your-customer requirements. However, only a few officers at the bank know your real name. All other bank employees know you only by a number or a code word. Transactions are carried out in your pseudonym or number plus a password, not your real name. Bank statements show only your pseudonym or number. Even your personal banking representative doesn’t know your real name.
The main benefit of a numbered account is that it avoids the possibility that a lower level bank employee might be coerced or bribed by an outside party to reveal information about your account. These techniques are well known to kidnappers, for instance. Another advantage is that bank statements won’t actually contain your name. No one can prove with a stolen bank statement that the account actually belongs to you.
Numbered accounts are available in a number of offshore banking centers, including Austria, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland. Because administrating a numbered account is more expensive than dealing with an ordinary account, the charges are often several times higher. Only you can decide if the privacy and security advantages are worth the additional costs.
Copyright © by Mark Nestmann
