Edge's News: German millionaires rush assets to Switzerland ahead of election....

Sunday's federal election could see European country take a hard left turn. A potential lurch to the left in Germany's election on Sunday is scaring millionaires into moving assets into Switzerland, bankers and tax lawyers say.

Angela Merkel

If the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), hard-left Linke and environmentalist Greens come to power, the reintroduction of a wealth tax and a tightening of inheritance tax could be on the political agenda. read more

"For the super-rich, this is red hot," said a German-based tax lawyer with extensive Swiss operations. "Entrepreneurial families are highly alarmed."

The move shows how many rich people still see Switzerland as an attractive place to park wealth, despite its efforts to abolish its image as a billionaires' safe haven.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, 67, seen as a symbol of European stability since taking power in 2005, will step down with her successor to be decided in Sunday's federal election for members of the 20th Bundestag (German federal parliament).

Merkel is backing Armin Laschet from her Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) to replace her as chancellor.

However, polling shows that Laschet is struggling to win over voters, with his main challenger, SPD's Olaf Scholz, who is the current finance minister and deputy chancellor, taking a surprise lead in the polls in recent weeks.

However, the frontrunner to replace Merkel was grilled by lawmakers in Berlin on Monday about a money-laundering scandal and it remains to be seen if the fraud investigation will have any impact on Scholz and the SPD when Germans cast their ballots this Sunday.

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