Switzerland isn't "Europe's bank." Germany, France, the UK and Spain have significant banking sectors that operate alongside national banks and the European Central Bank to provide services to the public and private sector. It's a complex web of interdependencies and Switzerland's financial industry is just one part.

According to Accuity, the "Big Two" Swiss banks are the 25th and 28th largest in the world. France's Paribas, Germany's Deutsche Bank and Britain's Barclay's take 3rd, 6th and 7th respectively.

Why are Swiss banks the most famous part of the European banking system? That's down to the culture, the history and the slightly unusual legal framework.

Since before the French revolution, Swiss bankers have long been considered the most protective of their clients' right to privacy. The 1713 Great Council of Geneva legislated the conditions under which Swiss banks would have to reveal information - only when the city council deemed it absolutely necessary. It became an attractive place to store money safely if, say, a gang of jealous revolutionaries wanted to confiscate your vast aristocratic wealth.

Events during the Second World War, where Germans were being punished and even executed, for holding money in foreign banks, further impressed upon the Swiss the need for secrecy. Many European Jews fleeing the continent deposited large sums of money in Switzerland and, due to documentation being lost or destroyed, only a portion of this deposited wealth could be returned. There's also the business of German deposition of gold, potentially confiscated from the victims of Nazi brutality, which I shan't go into here. Needless to say, Swiss secrecy was and is controversial.

Getting a Swiss bank to reveal any data regarding client accounts requires there to be sufficient allegations against a client. Under the principle of Dual Criminality, the allegations have to be a crime in both Switzerland and country making the case. What makes this an interesting little quirk of Swiss law is that tax evasion is a misdemeanour rather than a criminal offence. This is used as a major plot point in The Wolf Of Wall Street, if you've seen that, and a number of other films.

The air of mystery regarding Swiss bank accounts makes the entire system seem more shady than it actually is. Most people use the Swiss banking system as a way to circumvent rules and procedures in their home country rather than to outright break the law. Inheritance tax, for example, doesn't exist for non-residents. The system of "numbered accounts" would make it seem that some bank accounts are completely anonymous even though they're really not. It's all just legal and financial acrobatics wrapped in a stereotype that the Swiss are keen to maintain!