Big Banking
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- JP Morgan in second fraud payout
- Ex-Bundesbank boss to chair UBS
- Russia makes record bank bail-out
US authorities are investigating whether banking giant Credit Suisse helped US citizens evade paying taxes.
Credit Suisse is the second Swiss bank investigated for helping US citizens avoid tax |
The Swiss
bank said said it had been notified that it was a "target" for
investigation, but argued that this was part of a "broader industry
inquiry".
Credit
Suisse said it would cooperate with the investigation "subject to Swiss
legal obligations".
In February
the US indicted four Credit Suisse bankers for helping taxpayers hide money in
secret bank accounts.
At the
time, Credit Suisse had said that it was not part of the investigation.
Tax
crackdown
In recent
years US authorities have pressured several global banks to help them fight tax
evasion.
The US
Department of Justice's primary target was another Swiss bank, UBS.
It
threatened the Swiss bank with legal action if it failed to hand over the
details of 4,450 US customers suspected of tax dodging.
Following
years of intense pressure from the United States, in June last year the Swiss
parliament passed legislation permitting the country's banks to share customer
details with US tax authorities.
UBS ended
up paying a $780m fine, but more importantly the new legislation put an end to
Switzerland's famed banking secrecy.
Earlier
this year, US authorities said they were investigating the role of UK bank HSBC
in helping Indian citizens living in the United States to evade taxes.
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