FX.co ★ France’s President unsheathes his sword over tax havens

In the context of the recent scandal with Jerome Cahuzac, the President of France, Francois Hollande, called for “eradication” of the world’s tax havens.
He was supported by the richest Frenchman, LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault. Shortly after applying for a Belgian citizenship, Mr Arnault announced he had changed his mind as the French government was “going in the right direction”.
Mr Hollande admitted he was “wounded, bruised” by Jerome Cahuzac’s confession of having a secret Swiss account. Previously, Mr Cahuzac had repeatedly sworn he had no hidden account outside France.
Meanwhile, the nations that used to be explicitly opposed to bank secrecy changes, have adopted the EU standard. Luxembourg and Austria expressed the readiness to open their EU partners access to information of foreign depositors’ bank accounts. The government of Luxembourg pledged to enforce the new regulations in January of 2015.