Italy’s finance police said they visited 76 branches of Swiss banks and their agents as well as some banks near the border with San Marino in an effort to stamp out tax evasion, media reports said.

Branches of UBS and Credit Suisse were visited by the finance police yesterday in routine checks, reports said.

“The inspections were aimed at ensuring that banks and their agents met their commitments to provide timely communications on their financial relations,” the Guardia di Finanza and Italy’s tax agency, the Agenzia delle Entrate, said in a joint e-mailed statement, according to Bloomberg. “This information is of vital importance in the fight against international tax crime and, more generally, against tax evasion.”

Intermediaries and banks operating in Italy must inform the nation’s fiscal register of clients for whom they manage assets and transactions of €1,500 ($2,224) or more. Italian authorities have intensified controls, including border checks, in an effort to boost takings from an amnesty that allows individuals and companies to apply for pardons in return for a 5 per cent fee. The amnesty runs through 15 December.