New York State’s top banking regulator is investigating whether Credit Suisse Group AG’s private banking practices resulted in the evasion of state taxes, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
New York state Department of Financial Services superintendent Benjamin Lawsky sent the Zurich-based bank a demand for documents last month, said the person, who asked not to be named because the probe is confidential.
Lawsky also petitioned the US Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations for material gathered during that panel’s probe of Credit Suisse’s private banking and wealth management business, the person said.
On March 25, by unanimous consent, the Senate approved resolution No. 398 “to authorize the production of records by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.”
That resolution came in response to Lawsky’s petition, the person said.
Switzerland’s bank secrecy began to erode in February 2009, when the US charged UBS AG, the largest Swiss bank, with helping US citizens cheat the nation’s Internal Revenue Service (IRS). UBS avoided prosecution by paying US$780 million, admitting it fostered tax evasion and handing over data on thousands of US accounts.
US federal prosecutors have been investigating Credit Suisse’s alleged role in helping US citizens cheat the IRS for three years. Last month, a former banker at a Credit Suisse unit pleaded guilty to helping US-based clients evade taxes, implicating his superiors.
Andreas Bachmann, 56, a Swiss citizen, entered his plea in US federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, where he and six other Credit Suisse bankers were indicted in 2011 on a charge that they helped US clients hide US$4 billion in assets from the IRS.
Bachmann said superiors at his unit condoned violations of US law.
In February, the Senate subcommittee, headed by Michigan Democrat Carl Levin, presented the findings of its investigation into offshore tax evasion, focusing on Credit Suisse’s private banking and wealth management business.
Chief executive Brady Dougan deflected blame for helping clients hide billions of dollars from the IRS toward a small group of employees during his testimony at the hearing.
The subcommittee said in its report that 1,800 Credit Suisse employees helped US-based clients open 22,000 accounts, most of which were hidden from US tax authorities. The report criticized the bank for failing to discipline senior executives and chastised the US Department of Justice for not using all of its legal tools and for failing to get the names of individual account holders.
The report said Credit Suisse used a branch office at Zurich airport as well as a remotely controlled elevator and other tactics to avoid detection.
Merida Industry Co (美利達) has seen signs of recovery in the US and European markets this year, as customers are gradually depleting their inventories, the bicycle maker told shareholders yesterday. Given robust growth in new orders at its Taiwanese factory, coupled with its subsidiaries’ improving performance, Merida said it remains confident about the bicycle market’s prospects and expects steady growth in its core business this year. CAUTION ON CHINA However, the company must handle the Chinese market with great caution, as sales of road bikes there have declined significantly, affecting its revenue and profitability, Merida said in a statement, adding that it would
RISING: Strong exports, and life insurance companies’ efforts to manage currency risks indicates the NT dollar would eventually pass the 29 level, an expert said The New Taiwan dollar yesterday rallied to its strongest in three years amid inflows to the nation’s stock market and broad-based weakness in the US dollar. Exporter sales of the US currency and a repatriation of funds from local asset managers also played a role, said two traders, who asked not to be identified as they were not authorized to speak publicly. State-owned banks were seen buying the greenback yesterday, but only at a moderate scale, the traders said. The local currency gained 0.77 percent, outperforming almost all of its Asian peers, to close at NT$29.165 per US dollar in Taipei trading yesterday. The
RECORD LOW: Global firms’ increased inventories, tariff disputes not yet impacting Taiwan and new graduates not yet entering the market contributed to the decrease Taiwan’s unemployment rate last month dropped to 3.3 percent, the lowest for the month in 25 years, as strong exports and resilient domestic demand boosted hiring across various sectors, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. After seasonal adjustments, the jobless rate eased to 3.34 percent, the best performance in 24 years, suggesting a stable labor market, although a mild increase is expected with the graduation season from this month through August, the statistics agency said. “Potential shocks from tariff disputes between the US and China have yet to affect Taiwan’s job market,” Census Department Deputy Director Tan Wen-ling
UNCERTAINTIES: The world’s biggest chip packager and tester is closely monitoring the US’ tariff policy before making any capacity adjustments, a company official said ASE Technology Holding Inc (日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip packager and tester, yesterday said it is cautiously evaluating new advanced packaging capacity expansion in the US in response to customers’ requests amid uncertainties about the US’ tariff policy. Compared with its semiconductor peers, ASE has been relatively prudent about building new capacity in the US. However, the company is adjusting its global manufacturing footprint expansion after US President Donald Trump announced “reciprocal” tariffs in April, and new import duties targeting semiconductors and other items that are vital to national security. ASE subsidiary Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL, 矽品精密) is participating in Nvidia
RSS