Commentary: The Ruyati case and the plight of the maids

Vincent Lingga, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta  Sat, 06/25/2011 8:00 AM

The Indonesian government’s decision last week to stop sending maids to Saudi Arabia starting as early as next month should only be a temporary ad hoc measure that would be revoked as soon as both countries put in place stronger legal frameworks for the protection of the human and labor rights of our migrant workers in the gulf state.

The national outcry over the last few days after the surprise execution of Ruyati binti Satubi, who was convicted of murdering her Saudi employer, is of course understandable. But we should not allow it to blind us to the greatly important economic role the millions of Indonesian migrant workers in Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Gulf have for their native villages in Java.

No other government program, not even poverty alleviation projects, can be so effective in directly injecting as much cash into the rural economy in Java as the billions of dollars our migrant worker women in the Middle East remit every year.

We would not tolerate any abuse of our migrant workers overseas, but with more than 1 million Indonesian women working as domestic workers in Saudi Arabia alone, there are inherently big risks that some of them are bound to be abused.

In fact, we should magnanimously acknowlege that most of our migrant workers who work as maids overseas have been treated better and paid much higher than domestic servants in Indonesia.

The temporary moratorium on sending maids to Saudi Arabia should be used as an opportunity to look deeper into all aspects related to our migrant workers in the Middle East, right down from the qualification of employment agencies, their recruitment processes, their preparations (technical training), the terms and condition of their employment contracts and the terms imposed by the Saudi Arabian government on the families employing the migrant workers.

We should understand the plight of our migrant workers, who have been forced by the extremely difficult economic conditions at home to set out from their native villages into such far-away places as the Middle East with a strikingly different social environment and culture.

The acute shortage of jobs in Indonesia for low-skilled laborers has forced them to seek work abroad to support their families and pay for the education of their children or siblings. It is indeed a great sacrifice and heart-rending experience for them to be uprooted from their home villages and to leave behind their families for such a long period of time.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono himself, when addressing the Intenational Labor Organization’s conference in Geneva a few days before Ruyati’s execution, praised Indonesian migrant workers as economic heroes who should be given social justice and protected from abuse.

Working overseas as maids will remain an outlet for the millions of unemployed, unskilled laborers from rural areas, until our economy is able to expand fast enough to absorb all the job seekers.

But the Saudi Arabian government should also realize the great contribution of Indonesian migrant workers to the welfare of its people through the supply to its economy of low-priced labor and should consequently see to it that the maids are treated humanely by their employing families.

Living with inflation, capital inflows, poor infrastructure

Vincent Lingga, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta Tue/12/21/2010 Opinion

The biggest policy challenges for the Indonesian government in the year ahead include how to cope with rising inflationary pressures, ensure less volatile and sustainable capital inflows and accelerate the development of infrastructure.

Certainly, the large role portfolio investment plays in total capital inflows and the ensuing risks of asset price bubbles pose challenges for controlling inflation, especially in case of sudden capital reversals.

The year may end with a cumulative inflation of at least 6.2 percent, much higher than last year’s 2.78 percent. But this would not prompt the central bank to immediately raise its benchmark interest rate, which has remained at 6.5 percent since August 2009, because the rise in food prices, caused by weather anomalies that reduced supplies, was the main driver behind the increase in the consumer price index.
The reluctance to hike interest rates, at least until the end of the first quarter, also stems from great concern that a further widening of interest rate differentials would attract more short-term capital inflows, further complicating the central bank’s liquidity management efforts.
But the risks to the inflation outlook have increased due to the combination of persistently strong domestic demand, supply disruptions caused by weather anomalies and inflationary pressures due to capacity constraints and inefficient logistics.
The government measure to gradually phase out fuel subsidies starting in April will also aggravate inflationary pressures next year.
The growth of gross domestic product in the third quarter surprised on the downside, coming in at 5.8 percent year-on-year, down from 6.2 percent in the second quarter due to the unusually wet weather which adversely affected mining, construction and exports.

But, persistently high domestic consumer confidence will still enable the economy to close this year with a minimum expansion of 6 percent.

Consumer spending will remain the main driver of economic growth, which is estimated at between 6.3 and 6.5 percent next year, due in part to the positive wealth effect from the stock market and rising wages.

“ Since infrastructure development consists mostly of multi-year projects, the highest growth the economy may achieve next year is 6.5 percent. A faster expansion may cause the economy to burst at the seams.”

Bank Indonesia will continue the use of a mix of monetary policy and macro-prudential measures to deal with inflation risk, strong capital inflows and high excess onshore liquidity by setting higher compulsory reserve requirements, including on dollar deposits, and regulating vostro accounts (rupiah demand deposit accounts held by non-residents in domestic banks).

The central bank will use more liquidity management tools rather than the policy rate. Hence, Bank Indonesia’s first line of defense will continue to be liquidity withdrawal by raising the dollar reserve requirement and further lengthening the maturity of the term deposit facility to lock in additional liquidity for longer durations.

The 6.25 percentage point interest rate differential, and substantial improvements in Indonesia’s economic fundamentals, will continue to be magnets of both foreign direct and portfolio investment to the country.

According to the International Monetary Fund in Jakarta, foreign direct investment in the first nine months of 2010 alone totaled US$6.77 billion, compared to a mere $1.92 billion in all of 2009, while portfolio capital reached $14.45 billion against $10.36 billion last year.

Most portfolio capital inflows this year went to buying government bonds ($10 billion), Bank Indonesia’s SBI debt papers ($2.37 billion) and shares ($2.1 billion) as of early October.

Certainly, the best approach to cope with the torrent of short-term capital inflows, and to gain the greatest benefit from them, is to convert the funds into direct investment and initial public offerings (IPO) through the stock exchange and lengthen the maturity of capital inflows, thereby reducing the volatility.

But this requires significant improvement in the overall investment climate, reducing infrastructure bottlenecks and further improving capital market infrastructure to encourage more IPOs and corporate bond issuance.

Inadequate infrastructure has been one of the biggest drags on economic expansion over the past few years. In fact, the country lags behind most major Southeast Asian economies in the adequacy and quality of infrastructure.

Lack of inter-connectivity between major islands has caused wide regional economic disparities.

Infrastructure, such as roads and port facilities, in many provinces has crumbled due to an acute lack of maintenance under severe fiscal restraints. Power shortages and rotating blackouts continue to hit several provinces.

Inadequate infrastructure impairs the competitiveness of the economy because production and distribution costs are made much higher than those in other countries.

Studies by the University of Indonesia School of Economics concluded that inadequate infrastructure and the crumbling condition of existing infrastructure have made the costs of logistics in the country among the highest in Asia, or 14 percent of total production costs, compared to four to five percent in other countries.

The biggest barrier to private investment in infrastructure is land acquisition. The arduous, complex procedures for land acquisition make this component the biggest factor of uncertainty for project cost.

Yet more discouraging is that the government is still drafting a law on land acquisition for infrastructure that should have been completed early this year.

The most optimistic view now is that the bill would be enacted in the first half of 2011, at the soonest. However, because the new law has yet to be supported with government regulations stipulating technical details for its enforcement, more investor-friendly land acquisition legislation can be expected only later next year, or even early 2012.

The government has set up several supporting facilities to help expedite infrastructure financing, such as the infrastructure finance company in a joint venture with the World Bank and Asian Development Bank and an infrastructure fund guarantee.

But don’t expect any substantial improvement in the infrastructure sector unless a strong regulatory framework for a more expeditious land acquisition system is already in place.

The government built only about 120 kilometers of toll roads over the past five years and completed even less than 40 percent of the 10,000 megawatts in new power generation capacity launched under a crash program in early 2006 to cope with the power crisis.

Since infrastructure development consists mostly of multi-year projects, the highest growth the economy may achieve next year is 6.5 percent. A faster expansion may cause the economy to burst at the seams.

Commentary: Stopping subsidies for private cars could be the best policy of the year

Vincent Lingga, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 12/14/2010 10:47 AM | Headlines

Want to know what an incompetent government looks like?

You’re looking at it.

As early as December 2007 then chief economics minister Boediono, who is now the Vice President, announced after a Cabinet meeting that the government was preparing a program that would restrict the sales of subsidized gasoline only to public transport vehicles and motorbikes, thereby forcing private cars to use fuel sold at international prices.

But the program, which would be phased in initially in Jakarta, West Java and Banten provinces, was eventually buried under the indecisiveness of the government and opposition from the House of Representatives.

Tens of billions of dollars in taxpayers’ money continued to be burned annually into carbon-based emissions by private-car owners.

The government revived the same idea in June but the plan was again shelved due to the acute leadership of the government and resistance from politicians in parliament.

The same song played again in October when fuel subsidies became an increasingly heavy burden on the state budget.

But two weeks before the program was supposed to be initiated in Jakarta and its surrounding towns on Jan. 1, the pathetic government had not shown the House technical details on how the policy measure, which would affect tens of millions of people, would be implemented.

Even state owned oil company Pertamina, which controls more than 95 percent of the distribution of subsidized fuels, has not started logistics preparations.

The question then is how will the government be able to gain a national political consensus for a policy measure that is so strategically important to the nation?

The House would surely not want to be made the culprit for approving a policy that could potentially cause chaos in fuel distribution due to a lack of infrastructure and the inadequate institutional capacity of both Pertamina and gasoline stations.

Having said all that, I don’t mean to say the energy policy is not good.

Instead, I think the move to stop subsidizing fuel to private cars could become one of the best economic policies of the Yudhoyono government.

Technically, socially, economically and politically, the measure is the best option available.

Technically, the measure is not completely new because fuel for industrial users has long been floated on international market prices. Hence, the move will only extend the enforcement of the same fuel-pricing policy to private-car owners.

Since the restriction will start only in Jakarta and its surrounding towns, the program will not likely cause major supply disruptions to private-car owners because most of the gasoline stations in these areas have been selling unsubsidized, high-octane gasoline from Pertamina, Shell, Petronas and Total.

A one-year transition before the policy becomes effective in the rest of Java and Bali and other major islands of Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi seems adequate for Pertamina and gasoline stations to make adjustments to their storage facilities and logistics arrangements.

Economically, the measure is also the most feasible and one that poses the least risks, yet immediately with the greatest impact, because Jakarta and surrounding towns account for almost 20 percent of subsidized fuel consumption, Java and Bali 40 percent, Sumatra 18 percent and the other islands the remaining 22 percent.

The move also is socially and politically acceptable because it will affect mostly better well-off households or families who own cars.

Hence, the new fuel policy, if approved, will by one stroke generate multiple great benefits to the nation because energy subsidies actually have been a missed opportunity for investment in health and education, reducing poverty and building up infrastructure.

Since almost 55 percent of fuel subsidies have been enjoyed by private-car owners, this budget spending is simply a gross misallocation of scarce resources and a future tax and burden on the economy.

It has been too long for the government’s fiscal management to be held hostage by fuel subsidies. The policy will give investors certainty as to the future direction of the energy policy. Such a long-term perspective and policy guidance is key to wooing investment in alternative, renewable energy such as biofuel and in energy conservation and efficiency programs.

Moreover, as long as the differences between domestic gasoline prices and those in our neighboring countries such as Singapore remain large, it is rather impossible to prevent export smuggling from Indonesia, the vast archipelago country with such long porous coastal lines.

If the House members use their intelligence and reasoning properly, they should approve the new fuel policy, though under a more flexible implementation schedule — say starting next July, instead of next month as originally planned — to allow more time for infrastructure development and logistics preparations.

RI coal export prospects still bright

Vincent Lingga, The Jakarta Post, Singapore Fri, 11/05/2010 10:50 AM Business

Indonesia, already the world’s largest exporter of seaborne thermal coal since 2005, will continue to be a major supplier to the Asian market even though the quality of its coal reserves has declined to sub-bituminous and even liqnite or lower-rank coal, Garibaldi Thohir, the chief executive officer of publicly listed PT Adaro Energy, said here Wednesday.

“First of all, the biggest international market for coal now is Asia, notably China and India, which are practically on our doorstep,” said Thohir who was here to receive several awards for Adaro Energy at the 2010 Platts Top 250 Global Energy Company Rankings on Tuesday evening.

The ninth annual Platts 250 Global Energy Company Rankings measures companies’ financial performance using four key metrics: asset worth, revenues, profits, and return on invested capital. And to be ranked, companies must have assets greater than US$3 billion.

Thohir said the high economic growth in China and India, which made these countries hungry for natural-resource commodities, notably energy, had drastically changed the international coal market.

Asia now accounts for more than 65 percent of global coal consumption.

Platts analyst James 0’Connell quoted The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (Abare), a government research agency, as saying recently that India, the fastest growing importer of thermal coal, will import almost 70 million tons this year.

“Indian imports will expand to more than 77 million tons next year as 18.8 GW in additional capacity of power generation is expected to be completed next March,” Abare estimated in a report in June.O’Connell said China, with an annual production already exceeding 3 billion tons, will still import almost 100 million tons this year and 103 million tons next year to fire its huge power generation industry.

Another Indonesian competitive advantage, according to Thohir, is that Indonesia has very low production costs as most of its 95 billion tons of reserves allow for open-cast mining, he added.Yet most important, he added, “our coals produce very low emissions of sulphur, nitrogen oxides and wastes. The benefits of all this for users is that our coal would reduce the costs of their equipment maintenance and ash disposal”.

Indonesian coal exports are estimated by the coal miners association at about 200 million tons this year, much lower than the original projection due to the unusually heavy rainfalls that have affected mining operations.Andre Mamuaya, Adaro Director and Corporate Secretary, said Indonesian domestic coal consumption would also increase steadily as the country is expanding the capacity of its coal-fired power generation to reduce dependence on oil.

“The State Electricity Company [PLN] now uses only about 40 million to 42 million tons of coal per year. But this volume could double within the next five years as several new coal-fired power stations come on stream”, Mamuaya added.The Ministry of Mines and Energy recently revealed the government program to convert diesel-fired power plants with a combined capacity of around 8,000 MW into coal-fired plants.Most of the additional 10,000 MW new capacity being built under the first crash power program which was launched in 2006 is also based on coal.Based on the government’s energy plan, the state electricity company (PLN) will generate more than 50 percent of its output with coal.

Analysts foresee imminent correction in roaring stock market

Vincent Lingga, The Jakarta Post, Medan | Mon, 10/25/2010 10:33AM

The debt crisis in Greece last April triggered market panic across Europe and set off a free fall in global stocks in May and created a bearish sentiment in the Asian markets. The Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX) composite index fell to 2,514.11 on May 25, the lowest level since last December, after more than US$5.5 billion in foreign were pulled out.

What a contrast to the mood at the IDX now.

The market has been roaring since early July, hitting all-time highs as the combination of near zero interest rates in the developed countries and bullish sentiment in the largest Southeast Asian economy has made Indonesia a top destination for foreign investors.

More than $13 billion (net) worth of portfolio capital flowed into the financial market through stocks, government and corporate bonds and Bank Indonesia debt papers (SBI) in the first 10 months of the year alone, raising the total value of the financial market to Rp 287 trillion ($32 billion) as of last week.

When the stocks index rose to the highest-ever recorded level of at 3,013.40 on July 21, or up 19 percent from early January, many analysts thought the year’s peak had been reached. But the index continued toward the stars, setting a new all-time record of more than 3,600 recently before dropping off slightly to below 3,600 last week.

Several analysts, however, have raised concerns that stock prices may no longer be sustainable and could enter a roller-coaster cycle because the price earnings ratio (the ratio of share prices against expected income) has exceeded 30 to one — the highest level in Asia.

“I think a significant market correction is in the offing,” said Haryajid Ramelan, an analyst at PT Capital Bridge Indonesia, at an investor gathering in Medan, North Sumatra, last week.

Ramelan said 3,200- 3,300 would be a more sustainable range for the IDX index for the next few months.

Handrata Sadeli, president of PT Panin Sekuritas, said he also forecast a market correction but not as big as last May’s because Indonesia still offered a promising growth opportunity with an increasing number of new shares issues.

The first nine months of the year saw 12 initial public offerings, and 13 more, including one for state company PT Krakatau Steel, are in the pipeline.

Only one of the 12 new share issues declined on the secondary market, while the others gained in price by 12 to 677 percent.

Surya Maulana of PT Dongsuh Securities agreed there would be fairly serious risks of choppiness in equity markets if capital continued to pour into Indonesia as foreign investors could suddenly decide to withdraw their money, as they did in 2008.

“As long as transactions on the IDX are still controlled by foreign investors our market will remain prone to a boom-and-bust cycle,” Maulana added.

“As long as transactions on the IDX are still controlled by foreign investors our market will remain prone to a boom-and-bust cycle.”

However, several other analysts who attended the investor gathering remained confident that foreign investors would continue rushing into the market in part to take advantage of the growing gap between near-zero interest rates in the United States and Japan and the 6.5 percent rate in Indonesia.

As the difference between the rates grows, traders can make more money by borrowing dollars and yen for cheap and investing those funds in higher yielding stocks and bonds in Indonesia.

Several other analysts here are concerned about the torrent of funds flowing from developed countries as they have been pressuring the rupiah to strengthen, risking a bubble in the stock market.

They see the dizzying heights of the stocks as unjustified even in light of the country’s high growth rate, which is estimated at slightly more than 6 percent this year, up significantly from 4.5 percent last year.

The big concern is that the bulk of the foreign money flooding into Indonesia is going into equities and debt instruments, rather than into green-field (new) projects and start-up businesses.

But Maulana said he was confident the IDX would remain bullish at least until the end of the year because investors were unlikely to find better opportunities elsewhere in the world.

IDX director Eddy Sugito has said he is confident that the IDX’s sterling performance will continue because the positive sentiment there is based on a bright outlook on economic fundamentals and the corporate sector supported by strong domestic consumption and high commodity prices.

Many analysts here shared Sugito’s bullish sentiment, noting that the strong demand for commodities in other Asian countries would continue to be the main driver of the IDX’s growth, given Indonesia’s important role in such minerals as gas, coal, nickel, copper and agricultural commodities including palm oil, rubber, cocoa and wood-based products such as pulp and plywood.

Singapore’s DBS aiming to become leading bank in Asia

Vincent Lingga, The Jakarta Post, Singapore | Tue, 09/28/2010 9:08 AM | Business

DBSg, Southeast Asia’s largest bank by assets (totaling about US$215 billion as of last June), inauurated with great fanfare the Asia Hub of its key operations in a 3.1-hectare building near Changi Airport in Singapore on Monday.

Capitalizing on its deep understanding of the region and appreciation of local cultures, DBS has set its eyes on becoming a leading Asian bank with a strong presence in three key growth areas — South East Asia, South Asia and Greater China (Hong Kong, mainland China and Taiwan).DBS chief executive officer Piyush Gupta pointed out confidently that DBS was well positioned to play a leading role in Asia because it was already strongly entrenched in Singapore (its headquarters) and Hong Kong, the largest hubs of the Asian financial service industry.

The mood at the inauguration was overtly bullish for a bank that has just emerged from three bouts of turbulence.DBS had spent the two years prior to last November in relative leadership limbo and suffered a major fallout as thousands of its clients in Singapore and Hong Kong were burnt in the doomed Lehman Brothers structured products in late 2008.In a bid to maintain its customer loyalty and trust, DBS decided in July to reimburse $84 million to more than 2,150 of its customers in Hong Kong who through DBS bought structured notes from the now defunct Lehman Brothers.

Now with all those problems resolved, DBS seemed poised to expand at a faster pace to broaden its footprint across Asia.“We are strongly committed to growing in and with Asia,” said Gupta, who took over the DBS leadership last November after the sudden death of Richard Stanley who had been at the helm only around one year.Gupta, who has spent two-thirds of his 28-year career in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong with responsibilities encompassing all of Citi’s businesses including financial markets, corporate and investment banking, transaction services, credit cards, retail and wealth management, seems well fit to lead DBS in its expansionary mood in Asia.

Indian-born Gupta’s experience will certainly be a strong asset to help DBS expand in India, where the Singaporean bank already has more than 10 branches and is seeking permission to open eight more. While as of last year Singapore contributed 57 percent to DBS’ total income and Hong Kong 22 percent, the bank aims to achieve a 40:30:30 revenue balance between Singapore, Greater China, South and Southeast Asia, within the next decade.“If we are serious about playing a leading role in Asia we should have a strong presence in China, India and Indonesia,” he said.

The bank already has more than 240 branches across six key markets — Singapore Hong Kong, China, India, Indonesia and Taiwan — and dozens in nine other foreign markets.In Indonesia, where DBS operates through a 99 percent owned subsidiary, PT Bank DBS Indonesia, the 42-year-old bank has dramatically expanded its operational network from three branches in 2004 to more than 40 now in a dozen cities.“We have an aggressive strategy in Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, to expand steadily through an organic growth,” he said.DBS Indonesia has set itself an ambitious target to upgrade it self from its current position among the 20 largest banks in Indonesia to being in the top 10 in the next few years.

In another move to strengthen and expand its footprint in the region, DBS early this month shook up its management in Hong Kong by appointing Sebastian Paredes as the new CEO if its Hong Kong unit.Paredes, who has been working in banking for more than 25 years, including 20 years at Citibank, retired early this year as the CEO of Bank Danamon, Indonesia’s fifth-largest bank.

Another DBS senior executive, Andrew Ng, said the bank would invest $192 million within the next five years, to expand its treasury and money market operations, notably in Greater China, India and Indonesia, designed to be the main engine of its financial service growth in the future.

Julius Baer private bank expands to net Indonesian rich

Vincent Lingga, The Jakarta Post, Singapore Wed, 09/08/2010 10:23 AM Business

The largest Swiss private banking group Julius Baer strengthened its commitment to making Asia its second home market by convening its board of directors meeting here last week, the first outside its Zurich headquarters, and announcing a faster pace of expansion in the region, including Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy.Julius Baer chairman Raymond J. Baer told a roundtable discussion meeting with financial editors on Monday that his bank would upgrade its Hong Kong office to a booking center, open an office in Shanghai and a trust company in Singapore, in addition to the branch office it set up in the city state in 2006.

The editor forum capped a series of meetings and gala events organized by Julius Baer in Singapore to launch its big bang expansion programs in the region. “Wealth creation in Asia has now outpaced that in the older, developed world and we are expanding our global wealth management, deepening and broadening our market penetration in Asia,” Raymond Baer noted.

A recent survey report by the Merrill and Capgemini consulting company projected that the assets of Asian millionaires will exceed those of their North American counterparts by 2013. In sharp contrast to its rival institutions in Asia, the 120-year old boutique Swiss wealth manager has been in an expansionary mode over the past few years, opening an office in Singapore in 2006 and another one in Jakarta in early November, 2008, during the height of the global financial crisis.

“We started with a staff of only 30 in Asia four years ago but now we have more than 400 with a target of double digits in net new money growth,” added Thomas Meier, chief executive for Julius Baer’s operations in Asia and Mid-East.Julius Baer globally booked US$165 billion in assets under its management as of last June.Julius Baer, however, will not compete head on with commercial banks in Jakarta because as a private bank it focuses and services only so-designated high net-worth individuals (HNWI) with at least $3 million in net financial assets for investment.Its services include asset and wealth management and tax planning, investment consultation and investment funds for both private and institutional investors and securities, as well as foreign exchange trading.

“We focus on the total integration of products and services, with emphasis on wealth protection and creation services, financial planning for short- or long-term goals,” deputy chief investment officer Lee Boon Keng said”

We are able to provide investment advisory services tailored specifically to the needs of our clients because we thoroughly analyze their risk profile, financial needs and review their investment perspective every six months,” Lee added. Julius Baer seemed to have also been benefitting from larger asset inflows because of its lack of exposure to the 2008 American sub-prime mortgage meltdown, which had damaged the reputation of several larger international banks.Clients used to look at the largest banks as the safest but as it turned out after the 2008 financial crisis, it was the big ones that had been most exposed.

“We will act as the catalyst to bring European know-how and investment expertise to Asia and bring Asian investment opportunities to Europe,” Julius Baer Group’s chief executive officer Boris Collardi said. None of the Julius Baer executives was willing to elaborate on the potential market and characteristics of the top rich in Indonesia because of confidentiality, but they all agreed the potential is very big, given the size and growth prospects for the country’s economy.

Raymond Baer asserted that the perception of the infamous Swiss reputation as a tax haven for ill-gotten wealth is now a thing of the past after the Swiss government enforced the Article 26 of the OECD Model Tax Convention which binds member countries to share information in cases of suspected tax evasion and other forms of tax crimes.

This regulation obliges the Swiss government to provide administrative assistance — not only in the form of information about document forgery, but also about tax fraud — to the authorities of requesting countries.“Our government has toughened its laws, requiring Swiss banks to know their clients [know-your-customer code of conduct] and sources of funds they intend to deposit. Would be depositors are required to divulge detailed information, which must be verified,” Baer added