Switzerland is famous for many cliché things, including luxury chocolate of the very best, some of the finest cuckoo clocks to be found in the world, excellent luxury horology and the Papal Swiss Guard. Switzerland is also well known as being the home to Swiss banking something that predates the world's largest economy.

Swiss banking is synonymous with excellent security, privacy of the very best and privilege and it is no surprise that an estimated 25% of the wealth of the world created to date has passed through the Swiss Banking System. The reality of this legend has been seen in films, books and popular culture to this day. The image of a numbered account, whose holder is only disclosed to upper management along with the most discreet of bankers accompanying the hero to a luxury private room is abound.

Yet like so many things, the integrity of these vulnerable banking institutions has been rocked by the global capital crisis which has enveloped the world over the past two years.

Indeed, in the tradition of integrity, UBS, Switzerland's largest bank and one of the very best, was amongst the very first banks to wash their dirty linen in public and suffered a $32 Billion write down of toxic assets. They were also amongst the first banks to ask for direct government help in plugging the holes in their

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