Over the years many global investors–including Americans–have sought to safeguard their assets and protect their financial privacy by opening accounts with banks in Switzerland.

Some, no doubt, had the intention of evading taxes by sending assets to Switzerland.

But avoiding taxes is far from the only reason for an investor to want to preserve assets.

Nevertheless, the US Treasury Department–more specifically, the Internal Revenue Service–will soon have free access to the accounts of nearly 4,500 American investors with Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) as a result a strong-arm deal in which the US threatened the Swiss bank with sanctions if it did not open up its books to US regulators.

This deal was originally reported as impacting about 4,500 American investors, but more details are emerging as time marches on. It is now being reported in the press that 10,000 accounts at UBS are being looked into by the IRS and it has also been suggested by The Wall Street Journal that other Swiss banks–with as many as 52,000 American accounts–will also be targeted in similar deals with the US Treasury Department.

Furthermore, the long arm of the US Treasury will now reportedly move into Asia, where other Americans have sent assets to protect them from hazards like a collapse in the US dollar, frivolous lawsuits or some other issue or crisis centered in the USA.

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