What are numbered accounts?
Numbered accounts, or pseudonym accounts, are not very different from normal bank accounts. The usual account records omit reference to the customer’s name or other identifying information, replacing it with a code number or the pseudonym. The relationship between the code number or pseudonym and the actual customer is known only to a few senior managers and their secretaries within the bank. It is important to emphasize that a Swiss bank has an obligation to know the true identity of both the account holder and its beneficial owner, so there is no such thing as a truly anonymous account. Because of the constant awareness and strict enforcement of bank secrecy, there is actually little need for numbered accounts and it should also be noted that they incur additional overheads for the bank because it is more difficult to validate transactions to and from such accounts. For all these reasons, the stories one reads about anonymous, numbered accounts are mostly legend.
