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The sun is
reflected at the logo of Swiss bank Credit Suisse at a branch
office in Basel
November 1, 2011. (Credit: Reuters/Arnd Wiegmann)
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(Reuters) -
U.S. officials are offering 11 Swiss banks, among them Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX),
a deal that allows them to avoid criminal prosecution in exchange for revealing
full details of their U.S. offshore business to Washington, a paper reported on
Sunday.
Famed for
the care with which it protects account holders' anonymity, the Alpine state
has been forced to act by a series of U.S. probes into alleged tax evasion by
Americans concealing their assets in Swiss banks.
In 2009,
the Swiss parliament approved a deal to allow UBS (UBSN.VX) to reveal details
of around 4,450 U.S. clients and pay a $780 million fine to end lengthy tax
proceedings that had threatened the future of the country's biggest bank.
The Swiss
government has been in talks with U.S. authorities for months to try to get an
investigation into 11 banks dropped, in return for expected hefty fines on the
banks and the handing over of the names.
Credit
Suisse (CSGN.VX), Julius Baer (BAER.VX) and Basler Kantonalbank (BSKP.S) are
among the banks under investigation.
Citing an
unnamed source, the newspaper SonntagsZeitung reported that 11 banks would each
be offered a deal like the one to which UBS agreed.
In
exchange, the banks would have to accept U.S. requests for administrative
assistance in tax evasion cases that would mean delivering all information on
their U.S. offshore business via Bern to the United States, the paper reported.
The paper
said the banks would likely accept the deal.
Moreover,
as part of an agreement the names of the U.S. clients would be blacked out and
the banks would also be fined, the paper said, adding that the banks had until
Tuesday to agree to the terms in writing.
According
to the paper, the information the banks would have to hand over included:
-
Correspondence between a bank and its U.S. clients, including notes from
telephone conversations and meetings.
- Internal
notes about U.S. client business from the relevant business units and
management
-
Correspondence between banks and third parties, such as independent wealth
managers concerning U.S. clients
- All
documents about the U.S. business model and about U.S. funds that were
transferred to third parties.
The paper
said the 11 institutions would have to reveal the names of the bankers who
conducted the offshore business, though criminal cases against individuals
would not be taken up.
Credit
Suisse, Basler Kantonalbank and HSBC Switzerland would have to deliver material
by December 31, the paper said.
A spokesman
for Credit Suisse declined to comment. The Swiss Bankers Association was not
immediately available for comment. Neither was a spokesman for Julius Baer.
A spokesman
for the State Secretariat for International Financial Matters, which has represented
the Swiss government in negotiations with the United States, was also not
immediately available.
(Reporting
by Catherine Bosley; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)
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