This week the Swiss bank, Credit Suisse, was forced by the US Department of Justice to pay a fine of $2.6bn for its secret activities in enabling its US clients to evade US taxes. Ever since 2009 when UBS buckled under pressure from US prosecutors and agreed to pay $0.78bn in fines and to pass on information about tax-evading US citizens, there has been a steady increase in information-sharing by banks with the tax authorities. This week the thumbscrew was turned tighter, not only by the magnitude of the fine, but even more by forcing Credit Suisse to admit criminal culpability.
While UBS was given the soft option of a so-called deferred prosecution agreement which avoided the taint of criminality, 5 years later the Swiss bank if taking the full rap for these offences. It is being severely (and rightly) punished for allowing (or abetting) its bankers in concealing its US clients’ assets in a conspiracy that extended for decades, and because its staff actively hindered investigagtions aimed at uncovering it. Continue reading