The US regulator is preparing to accuse the Zurich-listed bank of deliberately inflating private banking AuM numbers, reports say. This publication is in contact with the bank.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly preparing to file charges against Credit Suisse for allegedly inflating reports of its private bank's assets under management, several media organisations reported this week, including the Financial Times and Reuters.

The SEC will allege that, "at times," Credit Suisse improperly counted client assets in the Americas as net new assets for the Swiss private bank from 2012, the Financial Times reportedly said, according to Reuters.

Credit Suisse declined to comment on the latest report. In its 2014 annual report, the matter is referred to in the following paragraph (page 358): "On February 26, 2014, the United States Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations issued a report that included a discussion of Credit Suisse’s determinations about and disclosures of net new assets and, as previously disclosed, Credit Suisse is conducting
a review of this topic. The SEC is also conducting an investigation. The disclosure of net new assets is required by banks operating in Switzerland pursuant to Guidelines on Accounting Standards
issued by the FINMA."

The SEC declined to comment when contacted by this publicaton.

A person familiar with the situation emphasised that the bank did not break any accounting rules, according to reports.

“The allegations were raised in February 2014, when the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations cited emails from the bank's staff asking whether money could be booked in a different region to make end-quarter numbers look better,” Reuters said.

In its third-quarter results statement, Credit Suisse said that across all divisions, it had SFr1.293 trillion of client assets under management. "Private Banking & Wealth Management recorded strategic net new assets of SFr17.3 billion and reported net new assets of SFr16.4 billion in 3Q15. Wealth Management Clients contributed net new assets of SFr10.5 billion with growth in all regions and balanced contributions from all client segments," it said.