The report focuses on the fact – as has been noted by WealthBriefing in a recent feature – that the probable demise of secret Swiss banking is squeezing margins of banks that have traditionally made money in this low-maintenance sector. But as banks must provide more added-value to clients in a more transparent world, they must reinvent their business models to stay ahead, industry figures say.

“The onshore markets are the fastest-growing markets in our bank,” Thomas Pixner, head of private clients at Rothschild Wealth Management and Trust, was quoted as saying in an interview with the news service. “Everybody told us four years ago ‘forget about old markets; you can’t grow anymore,’ but we’ve created a lot of growth.”

Rothschild aims for “high single-digit” percentage annual growth in assets under management from the €11.8 billion ($15.9 billion) logged at 31 March, the report continued.

Rothschild expects to win new clients as German entrepreneurs sell businesses over the next 10 years, the service quoted Riccardo Petrachi, who was hired this year from UBS to head the bank’s ultra-high- net-worth unit, as saying. The UK is also an important market for the firm.

(WealthBriefing understands that the firm is also concentrating on entrepreneurs selling their businesses across all of these markets, rather than just in Germany).

At least half of the Zurich wealth business is in cross-border accounts held by clients from countries including the UK, Spain and France, the report said. Pixner was quoted saying that some customers have asked to transfer money to onshore accounts.

Tax disclosure details between Switzerland, Germany and the UK could mean up to SFr47 billion (around $51.5 billion) could leave accounts in the Alpine state, squeezing its economy, according to consultancy Booz & Co in a report last week.

In the UK-Swiss agreement, signed in September, holders of offshore accounts in Switzerland will pay a one-off charge of between 19 and 34 per cent of funds to settle old tax bills. Swiss banks will pay the UK an up-front sum of SFr500 million. The agreement takes effect in 2013, subject to legislative scrutiny in the UK and ratification by Switzerland. Negotiations on the issue started in October last year.

From 2013, a new withholding tax of 48 per cent on investment income and 27 per cent on gains applying to those who have not previously disclosed these assets will ensure the effective future taxation of UK residents with funds in Swiss bank accounts. The new charges will not apply if the taxpayer authorises a full disclosure of their affairs to HMRC.

The German deal with the Swiss authorities follows broadly similar lines to the UK one.

However, a European Commission challenge this week to the UK and German tax deals means they are far from certain. The EU’s tax commissioner, Algirdas Semeta, says the agreements cut too far into the EU’s remit over such issues.