Cornèr Banca and Bank Coop have agreed to pay $5.06m and $3.2m in penalties to the US repectively to avoid prosecution over allegations accusing them of helping Americans evade taxes.
The banks have also agreed to cooperate in any related criminal or civil proceedings and demonstrate implementation of controls to prevent misconduct.
The DoJ said that Cornèr maintained and serviced 383 US related accounts with over $351m in assets, while Bank Coop held a total of 385 US related accounts with approximately $71.4m in assets under management since 1 August 2008.
Based in Lugano, Switzerland, Cornèr offers a full range of traditional banking services and also specializes in private banking, payment cards and securities trading.
Cornèr maintained correspondent accounts at a US bank to facilitate certain transactions for its clients and also the bank’s relationship managers travelled to the US at least 10 times to visit existing Cornèr clients between 2001 and 2008.
The bank also allowed its US clients to enter into hold-mail agreements in order to hide assets and income from the IRS. It also provided its US clients with the option to request numbered accounts, including code-name accounts.
The department added that Bank Coop offered a variety of traditional Swiss banking services including hold mail, numbered accounts and travel cash cards to help US clients in hiding their assets.
Bank Coop had also processed substantial cash withdrawals related to the closure of some US accounts. It also maintained accounts held in the name of non-US entities, including a Panama corporation and a Hong Kong corporation.
Image: Cornèr Banca and Bank Coop to settle dispute with the US Department of Justice. Photo: courtesy of JanPietruszka / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
