Managers and employees of financial institutions operating in the Principality are bound by the rules of professional secrecy. A breach of these rules may be prosecuted under the provisions of Article 308 of the Penal Code.
This commitment is designed to protect customers' interests and create the confidence required for the banking and financial sector to operate effectively.
In their relationships with depositors and borrowers, banks obtain extensive information on customers' financial status, business affairs and private lives.
All of this information is protected by professional secrecy, as is the very existence of a bank account and all of the transactions made to it, particularly those involving asset management.
As in all countries with an organized financial system, professional secrecy does not apply to information requested by the financial industry's supervisory and money laundering authorities (see below), who themselves are bound by secrecy rules, or by local legal authorities involved in a criminal investigation.
Pursuant to the 1963 tax treaty between France and Monaco, the only other exception to professional secrecy concerns persons with France as their fiscal domicile.