ZURICH: Switzerland’s financial watchdog said it was in contact with Credit Suisse after media outlets published results of coordinated investigations into a leak of data on thousands of accounts held at the bank in past decades.
One person leaked the information on the accounts, which were held in decades ranging from the 1940s to 2010s, to Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung. The German daily shared it with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and 46 other news organisations.
Among the allegations were accusations that the bank’s clients included human rights abusers and businessmen who had been placed under sanctions. “We are aware of the articles,” a spokesperson for the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) told a news agency. “Compliance with money laundering regulations has been a focus of our supervisory activities for years now,” FINMA added.
Credit Suisse rejected allegations of wrongdoing. The leaked data covered more than 18,000 accounts collectively holding more than $100 billion. Shares in Switzerland’s second-biggest bank, which had already been under pressure after a series of risk-management scandals and a 1.6 billion Swiss franc loss in 2021, pared initial losses to trade marginally lower in early trading.
“Credit Suisse strongly rejects the allegations and insinuations about the bank’s purported business practices,” Credit Suisse said in a statement issued in response to the consortium’s reports. The matters presented are predominantly historical … and are based on partial, selective information taken out of context, resulting in tendentious interpretations of the bank’s business conduct.
“Credit Suisse is deeply aware of its responsibility to clients, and the financial system as a whole to ensure that the highest standards of conduct are upheld. These media allegations appear to be a concerted effort to discredit the bank and the Swiss financial marketplace, which has undergone significant changes over the last several years,” it added.
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The bank said it had received “numerous inquiries” from the consortium in the past three weeks and reviewed many of the accounts in question. “Approximately 90% of the reviewed accounts are today closed or were in the process of closure prior to receipt of the press inquiries, of which over 60% were closed before 2015,” it said.
“Of the remaining active accounts, we are comfortable that appropriate due diligence, reviews and other control-related steps were taken in line with our current framework. We will continue to analyze the matters and take additional steps if necessary.”
Credit Suisse also provided additional responses on several topics. Following what the bank described as a “preliminary review” of “a large volume of accounts” about which reporters asked questions, the bank noted that “more than 90 percent” are now “closed or in the process of closure.”
“Of the remaining active accounts,” a Credit Suisse representative wrote, “we are comfortable that appropriate due diligence, reviews, and other control related steps were taken, including pending account closures.”
The representative wrote that Credit Suisse has a “strict zero tolerance policy towards tax evasion,” “only wishes to deal with clients who are tax compliant,” and “has implemented numerous client tax compliance programs spanning multiple jurisdictions.”
Turning to prevention of money laundering, the representative wrote that Credit Suisse has “stringent control mechanisms in place” and “conducts name screening in line with industry standards … both at onboarding as well as in relation to existing accounts.”
“Where we identify any relationships which could have been used for [money laundering] or other illicit activity, we take prompt and decisive action,” the representative wrote.
