Munich is a remake of the 1977 movie The Sword of Gideon based on the book of the same name. The movie tells the story of one of the assassination squads sent by Israel Prime Minister Golda Meir to kill the Palestinians who took part in the Munich Olympics hostage taking and ultimate killing of Israeli athletes.

The movie is based on the book 'Vengeance' by Georges Jonas, which tells us about how the account was to be used:

He opened two accounts and rented a safe – deposit box. In one account he placed a nominal sum, but in the order he deposited a letter of credit for a quarter of a million dollars. Then he immediately drew fifty thousand dollars in cash and put it into his safe – deposit box.

The first account was where his salary and personal living allowance would be deposited from time to time. The amount would come to nearly three thousand dollars every month – not a princely sum perhaps, but more than twice his previous salary. Better still, he was not expected to touch it. He could look at it every time he happened to be in Geneva – watch it grow, was how Ephraim put it – because his meals, his hotel bills, his ordinary living expenses would come out of operational costs. This was one of the perks of being on a mission where he was expected to be on duty for seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day. “That means every expense,” Ephraim had told him, ”within reason, of course. We don’t pay for hookers or diamond rings. But if you need a shirt, a pair of shoes, a raincoat – buy it. Just make sure you keep the receipts.”

The operational costs were unlimited. They had to be, since no one could possibly foresee how much an informer, a trip, a document, a vehicle, or quantity of gelignite would cost. Strict accounting was never expected for operational expenses – logically enough, since one couldn’t very well ask a snitch or a black - market arms dealer for a receipt. That wasn’t surprising at all. Avner had always found it much curious that the same agent who could be trusted, no questions asked, with tens of thousands of operational dollars, would be expected to submit a two – dollar receipt for an order of spaghetti with meat sauce.

The operational account would always be kept at the level of a quarter of a million dollars. Funds would be transferred to it from various other banks at regular intervals as it was being depleted. Avner wouldn’t have to concern himself with this. It would be handled by regular agents who would not even know why the account was being maintained.

The safe – deposit box served a number of purposes. First, in it the team would keep a portion of the operational funds in cash. Payments would often have to be made in cash and at a moment’s notice, and it would be simpler to take it out of a deposit box than to draw it from the account every time. In some cases cash was also better than bank drafts or transfers when they needed to move sums of money into banks in other cities. It made the source of the funds far more difficult to trace.

Finally, the box was for communication. Ephraim would keep one of its two keys. He could leave a message for the team in the box or they could leave messages for him, though this was unlikely to happen often during the mission. In any case, it was to be the only means of contact with headquarters.

British actor Michael Londsale, who plays the Swiss banker Manfredi in The Holcroft Covenant, the villain in James Bond 'Moonraker' and KGB man in Bern Grigoriev in Smiley's People, has the part of a mysterious French information broker who helps the Israelis locate their targets.

The Swiss bank is called here Banque Générale de Suisse, a rather plausible name, and the Mossad squad leader has access to 6 safe deposit boxes in its vault. No money goes through the bank's books and all cash and messages are exchanged through the deposit boxes. The idea is not to leave any traces so that Israel could later refute any involvement should these men get caught (some were eventually).

We managed to obtain a copy of the original script for the movie. Like the book, it gives the name of the real-life bank that the book says was used by the Mossad. We assume it was changed in the movie by fear of a libel lawsuit.

INT. THE SAFETY DEPOSIT VAULT, [BANK NAME], GENEVA - DAY

Avner is in a private room in the vault. He has an empty knapsack with him. One large safety deposit box and five smaller ones are on the table. There's a pile of rubber bands on the table.

Avner opens the large box. It's packed with stacks of US dollars. He removes ten stacks of bills from the box, a great deal of cash, and put them in the knapsack. Then he opens one of the smaller boxes. It's got a modest amount of cash. He closes the smaller box, leaving all the money inside. He makes sure all boxes are locked. He is fastidious.

Holding his knapsack, he pushes a button at the side of the door of the room. The door is opened immediately by a very pretty, very Swiss bank official, who smiles at Avner as she ushers him out of the room. He smiles back at her.

Everything about the bank looks American, and it seems clear that the bank scene was filmed in a US bank. (If you know which bank, please let us know). The safe deposit boxes have Chubb locks, not very common in Switzerland. The vault has a grate with a guard and a lady banker sitting at a small desk. The guard appears to have been dressed with second-hand Swiss army clothes, not very likely in a Swiss bank where uniformed personnel is uncommon. The bank boxes look like authentic Swiss bank boxes.

We see the lady banker help the Mossad agent open each of the 6 boxes and lay them in a row on a marble table in the center of the room. It is unclear in the movie why the agent has so many boxes since he is the only one to access them. Perhaps that each agent's pay is accumulated gradually in his own safe deposit box and that they do have access to the boxes but don't come until the mission is complete to minimize the risk of the whole team being recognized if somebody had the bank under surveillance.

The box also serves as a drop for their Mossad handler to send instructions. By the end of the movie, Mossad wants the assassination squad to terminate the mission. They don't.

By the time Avner and Steve arrived back in Frankfurt, Hans had checked the safe – deposit box in Geneva. There was message in it from Ephraim. It acknowledged the team’s message about Robert’s death, then continued with a single line of instruction:

TERMINATE IMMEDIATELY

However, the assets in the operational account were not frozen or withdrawn. Hans knew, because it was the first thing he checked after reading Ephraim’s message. This was not surprising; Ephraim would expect them to wind down their affairs cautiously, settle outstanding debts to informers, and so forth. Though there would probably be no more money deposited in the account – unless they requested additional funds, giving their reasons – there would be a period of grace during which they would still have disposition of over a quarter of a million dollars. To be on the safe side, Hans had immediately transferred most of it to the other accounts Carl had opened for the team in several European capitals at the start of the mission.

“What did you do with Ephraim’s message?” Avner asked Hans.

“I left it in the safe,” Hans replied.

This was a minor precaution; as long as the message was still in the safe, the Mossad might conclude that the team had simply not yet picked it up. There were not set periods for them to check for messages in Geneva and no alternative ways to be contacted by headquarters. If Ephraim really started checking, he would discover soon enough that they had looked into the box: a dated log sheet had to be signed each time they had it opened; but leaving the message there just might gain them some time.

And time was important, because Avner and his partners were firmly resolved not to obey the Mossad’s order to terminate the mission. At least, not immediately. Not until their money had run out. Not until they had had the chance to hit the remaining terrorists on their list.

Despite a lack of realism only clients of Swiss bank will notice, the bank scene has immense cinematic appeal, with shots filmed all around the banker and her client during the opening of the safe deposit boxes and brilliant lighting. And what could be more sexy than a Swiss bank box filled with brand-new American dollars?