Once revered for their freedom, entrepreneurship and credibility of the US dollar, American citizens are now becoming, well, second class citizens in the eyes of the world. The restrictions set forth by US law are so repulsive to some foreign institutions that they have elected to simply stop doing business with Americans.
European banks are dumping clients with US citizenship due to a new American law meant to curb tax evasion. The law would require financial institutions around the world to report on certain client activities. Compliance, say many banks, is way too expensive.
The idea was to ensure that US citizens were paying their taxes on investments made through overseas banks. The result, however, has been that Americans in Europe may have difficulties finding banks who want their business.
According to a report in the Wednesday edition of the Financial Times Deutschland, several European banks have elected to no longer serve American securities investors due to stricter reporting requirements pushed through last year by the administration of President Barack Obama.
German financial institution HypoVereinsbank has informed its customers that it will no longer offer certain services to its US-based clients or to US citizens as of Jan. 1. Deutsche Bank told the paper that it already cancelled such accounts held by American citizens in the middle of 2011. Germany’s second largest bank, Commerzbank, is considering a similar move. Customers with normal checking or savings accounts in Germany are not affected, however.
British banking giant HSBC has also reported that it will no longer serve US investors as has the Swiss bank Credit Suisse.
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