Credit Suisse, which faces a possible US indictment for aiding tax evaders, is likely to settle with prosecutors by admitting wrongdoing and pay a penalty possibly of more than $1 billion, according to tax lawyers, Bloomberg has reported.

Switzerland’s second largest bank has too much to lose by fighting the Justice Department and risking indictment, lawyers involved in the case were quoted as saying. Prosecutors told Credit Suisse in July that it is being investigated over its former cross-border banking services to US clients.

The lawyers say they expect Credit Suisse to reach an agreement similar to the one arrived at by UBS in 2009. In that year, UBS was charged with aiding tax evasion by US and paid $780 million to avoid prosecution. It later turned over data on another 4,450 accounts, representing a breach of Switzerland’s legendary bank secrecy rules.

A spokesperson for Credit Suisse declined to comment.

On 21 July, seven Credit Suisse bankers, including the former head of North American offshore banking, Markus Walder, were indicted in Virginia on a charge of helping US clients evade taxes through secret accounts. In the autumn of 2008, Credit Suisse maintained thousands of secret accounts for US customers with about $4 billion in assets, according to the details of that indictment, the report said.

In a previous statement, Credit Suisse had said: “Credit Suisse is committed to a fully compliant cross-border business. Subject to our Swiss legal obligations and throughout this process we will continue to cooperate with the US authorities in an effort to resolve these matters.”