Switzerland, Singapore and India are amongst 47 nations that have agreed on measures which are designed to end banking secrecy.

 Under the Declaration on Automatic Exchange of Information in Tax Matters the nations pledge to tackle cross-border tax fraud and tax evasion and to promote international tax compliance through mutual administrative assistance in tax matters and a level playing field. They also confirm that automatic exchange of financial account information will further these objectives.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the global body that frames economic policies and conventions against tax frauds, said the latest declaration commits countries to implement a new single global standard on automatic exchange of information.

“It's clearly the end of bank secrecy abused for tax purposes,” OECD tax director Pascal Saint-Amans told reporters in Paris.

The 47 nations include: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, the People’s Republic of China , Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica , the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.