Brussels, 14/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - Swiss federal financial advisor Eveline Widmer Schlumpf will be in Luxembourg on Tuesday 15 October for the meeting of EU28 finance ministers, where she will meet with EU Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier to discuss the MiFID II Directive currently under preparation, which Switzerland is not happy about. In its current state, the new directive would prevent EU member states from signing special deals with non-EU countries that would give financial bodies in non-EU countries easy access to the EU financial services market, although agreements of this nature could still be signed with the EU as a whole. The new directive would force any financial institution in a non-EU country wanting to operate within the EU to have local branches and only provide services to clients registered in the EU at those branches (thus subject to EU legislation). Switzerland sees these measures as a way of restricting access to the EU for Swiss banks by forcing jobs and financial services to move from Switzerland to the EU. During the talks on the draft legislation, Switzerland will try to arrange the rules to allow greater access for Swiss banks and financial bodies, which it says is required if Switzerland is to make concessions on adjusting its current savings tax deal with the EU that is meant to ensure the automatic exchange of bank information with the EU from 2015 onwards. The European Commission says the two issues are not to be linked and it wants Switzerland to meet international standards on transparency about bank account holders. The EU wants Switzerland to introduce a firm negotiating mandate for talks with the EU on the savings tax directive (probably in mid-December, see EUROPE 10941). (FG/transl.fl)