ABU DHABI: Switzerland has not seen any major inward or outward movement of funds from Saudi Arabia, the chairman of the Swiss Bankers Association said on Monday when asked whether he had seen an increase in flows following Riyadh's anti-corruption campaign.
"We have not observed any major movement of funds being transferred, not at all," Herbert Scheidt told reporters during a tour of the Gulf.
Saudi Arabia detained dozens of top officials and businessmen last year and vowed to confiscate money and assets held by them, raising fears that authorities would also target Saudi assets parked in offshore centres such as Switzerland.
Scheidt was part of a group accompanying Swiss Vice President and Minister of Finance Ueli Maurer, who visited Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for talks on cooperation in financial and tax matters.
Scheidt said there had been no discussions with Saudi Arabia during the trip about freezing assets, adding that any such requests would be made to the Swiss prosecutor's office.
Most Saudi detainees were released last month after settlements secured just over $100 billion from members of the elite, the attorney general has said, without providing details.
The detainees included some of the kingdom's richest people including global investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, property mogul Mohammed Aboud al-Amoudi and Waleed al-Ibrahim, founder and chairman of MBC Group, the Middle East's largest private media company.
(Reporting by Stanley Carvalho; Writing by Saeed Azhar, Editing by William Maclean) ((Saeed.Azhar@thomsonreuters.com; +971 44536787; Reuters Messaging: saeed.azhar.reuters.com@reuters.net))
