12/10/22

SWITZERLAND: Credit Suisse is Facing US Tax Probe.

As published on finews.com, Wednesday 12 October, 2022.

Following the settlement of a tax dispute between Credit Suisse and the US authorities, media reports pick up on familiar allegations that the assets of US clients were not being declared in accordance with the rules.

Credit Suisse is increasingly coming under fire from Anglo-Saxon news agencies. As Bloomberg (behind paywall) and Reuters reported, the US Justice Department is investigating whether the Swiss bank continued to help US clients hide assets from authorities eight years after paying a $2.6 billion settlement for tax evasion.

According to the reports, investigators are looking into whether the bank helped US account holders, in particular those with South American passports, conceal hundreds of millions of dollars from the Internal Revenue Service. Authorities were said to have relied on tips from within the bank. The allegations, which originated among Washington DC government insiders, are not new.

Credit Suisse denies improper conduct and says it is cooperating with authorities including the US Senate and Justice Department. Since 2014, efforts have been stepped up to identify individuals attempting to hide assets from tax authorities, it said in a statement to finews.com. Undisclosed accounts would have to be closed if they were identified as such. Employees not complying with the relevant bank guidelines faced disciplinary measures.

Shares in Credit Suisse have taken a battering in recent weeks and were down about 3 percent Wednesday.

Credit Suisse plans to downsize its investment bank to focus more on its flagship asset management business as part of a restructuring initiated by Chairman Axel Lehmann, now under the aegis of new CEO Ulrich Koerner.

Switzerland's second-largest bank had last week demonstrated its financial strength by announcing that it would buy back up to 3 billion Swiss francs in debt, finews.com also reported.