UBS terminates account of Swiss expatriates living in Cyprus

[Soterus]

The link below is the source of my information, an article from the Swiss newspaper "Blick".
It states that Swiss nationals living in Cyprus can only maintain their UBS bank account under the condition of a deposit of 1 million CHF.
Why is Cyprus now a high risk country for UBS? It is EU. Or are there some changes in regulations coming? Implications of other Swiss offshore banks?

https://www.blick.ch/wirtschaft/ubs...weizer-sparer-sind-die-dummen-id18624624.html

 

[Sols]

Being an EU nation doesn't automatically mean a country is always going to be considered‌ low-risk. Malta was briefly on the FATF graylist, for example, although it had very little‍ impact.

As a bank, customer relationships have to make financial sense. They've probably done the⁠ math and came to the conclusion that (some) non-resident account holders that aren't wealthy enough⁤ aren't profitable compared to the risk they pose.

There have recently been a handful of⁣ sanctions issued by US and UK against certain law firms and related companies in Cyprus.⁢ That might have played a role in UBS assessing Cyprus as a high risk territory.︀ UBS is already on thin ice with US authorities, especially by owning Credit Suisse now︁ as well.

 

[CyprusLawyer101]

Sometimes it can be a commercial policy decision to target for example specific non dom‌ category of Swiss nationals in Cyprus. However references made by Sols on the recent sanctions‍ to Cyprus firms is correct and it might have played a role to it.

 

[lacomaco]

New US sanctions against Cypriot individuals and companies (like Christodoulos Vassiliades). Even the bank accounts of⁣ companies where the registered agent is provided by these sanctioned lawyers are frozen now, so⁢ no wonder Switzerland is getting cautious.