The Legal Regulation of Banking Secrecy A Comparative Analysis of Saudi, English and Swiss Laws

Abstract

The comparative law approaches to banking secrecy vary, yet the fundamental objective remains to make banking secrecy a legal obligation rather than ethical. This study examines the legal regulation of banking secrecy according to Saudi laws compared to the common English law which is based on judicial precedents, and the Swiss law as a civil law. Starting with a preliminary section about the concept of banking secrecy, the study has been divided into three main sections. The first one deals with the regulatory framework of banking secrecy in Saudi, English and Swiss laws. The second section focuses on the scope of the bank's obligation to banking secrecy. The last section explores the different qualifications of the duty of banking secrecy.