Four Swiss banks have forged deals with the US Department of Justice to avoid possible prosecution for helping American citizens evade taxes.
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As a part of the deal, the banks including Societe Generale Private Banking, MediBank, LBBW (Schweiz) and Scobag Privatbank will pay penalties ranging from $9,090 to $1.36m under the Swiss program launched by the Justice Department in 2013.
The scheme, that allows Swiss banks to resolve potential criminal charges by disclosing cross-border activities that helped US account holders conceal assets, will mandate the banks to provide detailed information on the accounts of US taxpayers under investigation.
Societe Generale Private Banking, based in Lugano, will pay $1.36m after managing more than 100 US-related accounts valued at approximately $140m since 2008 while MediBank will pay $826,000.
LBBW (Schweiz), based in Zurich, which held 35 US-related accounts with $128m in assets under management since August 2008, will pay $34,000 and Scobag Privatbank, based in Basel, will have to pay a penalty of $9,090.
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By GlobalDataIRS-Criminal Investigation (CI) chief Richard Weber said: "These four additional bank agreements signal a change in terrain for offshore banking.
"No longer is it safe to hide money offshore and expect that it will not be discovered. ? IRS CI Special Agents will continue to follow the money to find those who circumvent the offshore disclosure laws and hold them accountable."
