The announcement of an agreement with the US authorities yesterday was made by UBS, which bought Credit Suisse two years ago. UBS had no connection with the case at the time the events took place.

Credit Suisse Services AG – now part of UBS – has agreed with the US Department of Justice to settle a long-running tax-related probe into how Credit Suisse carried out its 2014 plea agreement. The pact had been linked to the bank’s legacy cross-border business with US taxpayers booked in Switzerland.

The matters covered by the 2014 agreement took place before UBS acquired Credit Suisse. 

Credit Suisse Services AG pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to aid and assist in the preparation of false income tax returns. It will pay an aggregate of $371.9 million. Credit Suisse Services AG also contemporaneously entered into a non-prosecution agreement regarding US taxpayers booked in the legacy Credit Suisse Singapore booking centre and will pay an aggregate of $138.7 million, a statement from UBS group yesterday said.

"UBS was not involved in the underlying conduct and has zero tolerance for tax evasion. With this resolution, UBS is pleased to have resolved another of Credit Suisse's legacy issues, in line with UBS’s intention to resolve legacy matters at pace in a fair and balanced way and in the best interest of all its stakeholders,” the statement said. 

In the second quarter of 2025, UBS said it expects to recognise a credit from the partial release of the contingent liability established with the acquisition of Credit Suisse as part of the purchase price allocation process. UBS expects to record a charge in the second quarter in relation to this resolution, it added.

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash, one of the stories that surfaced was the actions by several Swiss banks to help wealthy Americans hold offshore accounts in jurisdictions such as Switzerland. A raft of firms (see examples of stories here and here) reached a collective settlement with US authorities about a decade ago. One of the most significant shifts has been how the Swiss federal government has ended bank secrecy concerning foreign-held accounts, although it remains in force for domestic Swiss citizens' accounts.