|
Hot money haven
(FORTUNE Magazine) – If Switzerland is no longer a safe home for dubious dough, what is? Believe it or not, the hot new haven is Hungary. In the past year Switzerland has frozen the accounts of deposed despots Ferdinand Marcos and Jean-Claude ''Baby Doc'' Duvalier, and a Swiss subsidiary bank has released records of Dennis Levine, accused of insider trading on Wall Street. Depositors appalled at such indiscretion may want to consider the National Savings Bank of Hungary. Like other Communist-bloc countries, Hungary is hungry for hard currency. When Michael Cerre, an independent television producer from San Francisco, visited Budapest this year to film a TV special, he opened a $20 savings account at the National Savings Bank to test the secrecy laws. He was told that he could open the account under his own name, a fake name, or a number, and that the bank would not respond to any government inquiries about it. ''I asked what would happen if I came in with a suitcase of dollars and wouldn't tell where it had come from,'' Cerre says. ''The manager replied, 'We don't ask questions; we don't care who you are.' '' The bank recently paid 5.75% on a regular savings account, about two percentage points more than Swiss banks offer. |
|