The EFG has said that a Federal Administrative Court ruling in the Banca della Svizzera Italiana case will not affect its results.
The court ruling has forced the Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) to reconsider its seizure of around $95m from a bank acquired by EFG.
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EFG purchased BSI in 2016 from BTG Pactual of Brazil.
The private bank was involved in legal problems related to the Malaysian sovereign fund 1MDB.
The legal tangle resulted in the closure of BSI’s Singapore branch in 2016.
The Federal Administrative Court termed FINMA’s calculation of the amount seized from BSI ‘incomprehensible’ and ordered a reassessment.
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By GlobalDataBSI breached money-laundering, says FINMA
FINMA said that BSI breached money-laundering rules and directed the company to hand over profits amounting to £74m.
The authority accused BSI of violating due diligence obligations to prevent money laundering, and the obligation to retain documents.
FINMA said BSI violated the principle of appropriate risk management and the obligation to guarantee proper business conduct.
The authority’s directive prompted BSI to go for an appeal claiming that the procedure was flawed.
The Swiss Federal Administrative Court ruled that FINMA must take up the matter again.
The court wrote: “Although acknowledging the occurrence of severe violations of supervisory provisions the Swiss Federal Administrative Court (FAC) considers the estimate of 95 million francs to be incomprehensible.
“The confiscation has to correspond to the actual profit generated by the infringement.”
Too much money confiscated by FINMA from BSI would not be a results-boosting windfall, EFG said.
EFG said in a statement: “The final purchase price of EFG’s acquisition of BSI accounted for a respective provision.
“Any modification in the amount of disgorgement would be neutral to EFG’s financial results.”
Aggrieved parties have an option to file an appeal against the judgement in the Federal Supreme Court.
In November, EFG nominated Peter Fanconi as the new chairman to replace John Williamson.
