ZURICH (AFP) – Credit Suisse shares tumbled again yesterday following a report of a United States (US) investigation into whether Switzerland’s second-biggest bank continued to help clients evade taxes after a 2014 settlement deal.
Just after 0900 GMT, shares were down three per cent to CHF4.25 (USD4.02), regaining some ground after losing more than four per cent at the start of trading. The fall went against the trend of the Swiss stock exchange’s main SMI index, which was up 0.16 per cent.
The US Department of Justice is reportedly investigating whether the bank continued to help clients hide assets from the taxman eight years after a settlement with US authorities.
The investigation is focussed on clients in the US with South American passports who allegedly failed to declare hundreds of millions of dollars to the tax authorities, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
In 2014, Credit Suisse reached a settlement with the US authorities, paying a USD2.6-billion fine after pleading guilty to helping clients prepare garbled returns to evade taxes, in broad investigations targetting Swiss banks.
