Two more Swiss banks, Société Générale Private Banking (Suisse) (SGPB-Suisse) and Berner Kantonalbank (BEKB), have reached resolutions under the US Department of Justice’s (DoJ) Swiss Bank Program.
Under the deal, SGPB-Suisse will pay a penalty of $17.807m while BEKB will pay $4.619m to avoid prosecution for helping US taxpayers to hide foreign accounts and evade their tax obligations to the country.
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Since 1 August 2008, SGPB-Suisse managed about 375 US-related accounts, with approximately $660m of assets under management while BEKB held approximately 720 US-related accounts, with total assets of about $176.5m, the US Department of Justice said.
In a statement, Berner Kantonalbank said that the penalty will have no impact on its results for the current year and that it had already made appropriate provisions in 2013.
The Department of Justice acting assistant attorney general for tax division Caroline Ciraolo said: "The banks are naming officers, employees and others who facilitated this conduct, and providing information that helps us track assets that accountholders moved to other banks and other countries.
"Using information gathered from the banks in this program, we have identified and are investigating individuals, both domestic and foreign, who helped US taxpayers dodge their obligations."
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By GlobalDataThe Swiss Bank Program, which was announced on Aug. 29, 2013, provides a path for Swiss banks to resolve potential criminal liabilities in the United States.
Swiss banks eligible to enter the program were required to advise the department by 31 December 2013, that they had reason to believe that they had committed tax-related criminal offenses in connection with undeclared U.S.-related accounts.
However, banks already under criminal investigation related to their Swiss-banking activities and all individuals were expressly excluded from the program.
