Sweden banks, according to an agreement with the Swedish government administration, have begun to map out Swedes according to the place of birth and original nationality.
Nordea bank is currently the most visible bank performing these operations.
The Nordea banking app for mobile phones has been reported to lock up for users, until they answer questions about their birthplace. The app follows up with a question asking what other passports the user has.
Currently, the app allows the user to put off answering the questions until later, but it is not stated as to how long the questions may linger before Nordea requires an answer.
These questions are related to questions required by USA under FATCA, the “Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act”. It assumes that any “US person” living in Sweden is living there in order to avoid taxation. Any person living in Sweden and banking in Sweden must prove to their Swedish bank that they are not living in Sweden for the purpose of avoiding taxation.
Now, Sweden likes to be seen as being politically correct–especially when it is not politically correct……….
or, the short link
http://bit.ly/1DtU3Rb
“Employers may not treat individuals differently because of their place of birth, country of origin, ancestry, native language, accent, or because they are perceived as looking or sounding “foreign.” All U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and work authorized individuals are protected from national origin discrimination.”
http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc/htm/Webtypes2005.php
@SwissPinoy – that obviously applies only to homelanders. If you live outside the homeland, you are fair game for discrimination. In fact, it’s encouraged!
The Swedish government has shown its Nazi face.
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http://www.svt.se/nyheter/regionalt/vastnytt/han-vill-inte-vara-amerikan-langre
How can anyone in their right mind think that any “US person” living in Sweden is living there in order to avoid taxation ?!!! The Nordic countries have the highest tax rates in the world! We live here because of family and work. The high taxes pay for free health care, tuition-free universities, etc. The Swedish government gave in to arm-twisting…
It appears that some if not many of the banks in countries which have started the great FATCA Roundup are using Anti-Money Laundering legislation for identifying persons with US taint by considering such persons as being “Politically Exposed” persons. So there you have it, Americans abroad are lumped in together with Drug Lords, Terrorists and Corrupt Politicians.
This is probably the brain child of Robert Stack who is going around the world advising governments on how to make FATCA happen.
Well, FATCA is par for the course
https://bancdelasteroideb612.wordpress.com/2014/10/23/sweden-one-ups-usas-fatca-fbar-assumes-all-of-its-expatriates-to-be-corrupt/
Sweden is voting on implementation of the FATCA IGA on 18 February, meanwhile it is in the finance committee.
Riksdagen fattar beslut den 18 februari, innan dess bereds det i utskottet.
Hannah Nyberg of SVT is following it (although not advocating)
http://www.regeringen.se/sb/d/108/a/250426
So far, 2 people have filed discrimination complaints.
Beskrivning Genomförande av avtal mellan Sveriges regering och Amerikas förenta staters regering för att förbättra internationell efterlevnad av skatteregler och för att genomföra FATCA
(the above is the name of the govt document)
Utgiven: 21 november 2014 (date of document)
Typ: Lagrådsremiss (Type:law advice ?text?)
Avsändare: Finansdepartementet (writer: finance dept)
Anmälarens syn på händelsen
This agreement and this law will search out Swedish citizens and residents of Sweden, based upon their national origin and their place of birth.
For the first time since the 1940’s, Swedish citizens are now being demanded to provide information upon the country of their birth and their nationality.
Note that this law is about residents of Sweden–including Swedish citizens. (The law is not restricted to non-residents of Sweden). Swedish residents are being forced to report their national origin and birthplace inside Sweden so that each nationality shall received different (punitive) treatment.
This information is being sent to a 3rd country. The 3rd country will enforce penalties and fines upon those persons reported.
The 3rd country will proceed with legal procedures for which the Swedish citizen has no method of protecting ones self. One cannot protect against a legal procedure which happens in another country.
Persons are already being forced to provide this information under threat of cessation of bank services.
Alle människör har lika värde.
The regime for “US person indicia” reports persons who are SUSPECTED of being a US person. This means that thousands of Swedish residents and Swedish citizens will be reported who don’t even truly fulfill the discriminatory criteria.
Note that Sweden’s banks have been threatened with 30% sanctions within USA FATCA regulations if they do not comply with the US demands.
Note that Sweden has made an agreement with the US Treasury Department (the Executive Branch) which is not ratified by the US Senate. There is NOT any treaty with USA.
Note that Sweden has been forced within that Intergovernmental agreement to implement these policies. Note that the agreement REQUIRES Sweden to comply. However, USA does not reciprocate, it only “1. Reciprocity. The Government of the United States acknowledges the need to achieve equivalent levels of reciprocal automatic information exchange with Sweden. The Government of the United States is committed to further improve transparency and enhance the exchange relationship with Sweden by pursuing the adoption of regulations and advocating and supporting relevant legislation to achieve such equivalent levels of reciprocal automatic information exchange. ”
reference the IGA itself found here: http://www.treasury.gov/…/trea…/Pages/FATCA-Archive.aspx
Övrig information
Swedish Code of Statutes
Discrimination Act
issued on 5 June 2008.
SFS 2008:567 Published 25 June 2008
Section 12
Discrimination is prohibited on the part of a natural or legal person who 1. supplies goods, services or housing to the general public, outside the private and family sphere, or 2. organises a meeting or event that is open to the public.
Discrimination
Section 4 In this Act discrimination has the meaning set out in this Section. 1. Direct discrimination: that someone is disadvantaged by being treated less favourably than someone else is treated, has been treated or would have been treated in a comparable situation, if this disadvantaging is associated with sex, transgender identity or expression, ethnicity, religion or other belief, disability, sexual orientation or age.
5. Instructions to discriminate: orders or instructions to discriminate against someone in a manner referred to in points 1–4 that are given to someone who is in a subordinate or dependent position relative to the person who gives the orders or instructions or to someone who has committed herself or himself to performing an assignment for that person.
Precedents:
Sweden has expelled the Eritrean Ambassador for having forced taxes upon Swedish residents. Sweden has complained to the UN.
@banc de l’asteroide B612
Whoever wrote those discrimination complaints in Sweden really hit the nail on the head. Anyone with a degree of morality will quickly conclude that FATCA is not compatible with the norms of any civilized society and that the Inter-Governmental Agreements are not agreements at all, they are just them terms and conditions of an extortionist as dictated to its victim.
The Swedes should revoke Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize. Not only has Obama gone on to covertly expand America’s wars across the planet, he has initiated the greatest financial crime against humanity in the history of the world by threatening every government on the planet with economic sanctions unless they actively assist the US in rounding up everyone with even the slightest “indicia” of US personhood, a category of people whose existence has been artificially created by the US solely for the purpose of shaking down for money.
It is time for Sweden to show the world its traditional culture of respect for human rights, particularly for its own citizens. If it fails to do so, Sweden will have shown that its very existence is entirely at the whim of a foreign bully thousands of miles away. History has shown that bullies require standing up to, and once that occurs, bullies almost always back away like the paper tigers they really are.