Neate and Godfrey: Bank Confidentiality 6th Edition

This book deals with the duties or obligations of confidentiality or secrecy which banks owe to their customers in 37 countries around the world.

Stefan Tiefenthaler and Emanuel Welten are authors of the Austria chapter. The ways in which banks may be obliged to disclose information in court proceedings - or to assist the authorities in combating money laundering or the funding of terrorism and wider international anti-money laundering initiatives - are considered. Since the financial crisis, in some jurisdictions politicians have been increasingly keen to reduce levels of bank secrecy. Conversely, there is also pressure to protect customers' information and prevent identity theft. Each chapter sets out the basic rules of confidentiality - the nature, extent, and source of those rules - and examines their civil and criminal nature, the remedies available for breach of those obligations, the extent to which conflicts of interest arise, and how data protection legislation operates in relevant jurisdictions.