Apr.08, 2010, 6:31am EDT

ZURICH, April 8 (Reuters) - Swiss authorities sifted through record numbers of suspicious financial deals last year totalling 2.23 billion Swiss francs ($2.1 billion) for possible money-laundering, and most were forwarded to prosecutors.

Switzerland, for decades viewed as a safe haven for money of dubious origin, started to clean up its image by introducing anti-money laundering laws in 1998. The rules make it compulsory for financial operators to report suspect transactions, regardless of the amounts involved.

In 2009, Switzerland's Money Laundering Reporting Office received a total of 896 reports on suspicious financial activities, a 5.3 percent increase from the previous year.

"Never has the value of assets implicated... been more substantial than in the year under review," the Swiss Police Department said on Thursday. There had been an upward trend in suspicious activity reporting in the past three years, said Judith Voney, a spokeswoman for the Money Laundering Reporting Office.

"The Swiss financial place has become very attentive and the quality of the reports is nowadays very good," she told Reuters.

She said it was not possible to make a direct link between the financial and economic crisis and the record number of suspect transactions, but said that crisis situations in general tend to lead to more fraud.

The Swiss last year introduced stricter reporting requirements for suspected money-laundering. But the Money Laundering Reporting Office said the reports were made before the tighter rules were introduced.

The banking sector accounted for two thirds of all reports.

The lion's share of the reports concerned two transactions involving possible fraud and market rigging for a total 725 million Swiss francs.

There were only seven reports of suspected terrorism financing, involving roughly 9,500 Swiss francs and confirming the fact that this type of crime is characterized by the transfer of very small sums of money, Swiss authorities said.

Nearly 90 percent of reports were well-substantiated and thus forwarded to prosecutors. ($1=1.071 Swiss Franc)