UNDECLARED SWISS FUNDS
UBS ‘very pessimistic’ about settling French tax fraud case
Paris — UBS Group is "very pessimistic" about reaching an agreement with French authorities to settle a case of alleged tax fraud that forced the bank to post a €1.1bn bond to cover any potential penalties three years ago, Journal du Dimanche reported. France’s financial prosecutor was seeking a €1.1bn fine from UBS to settle the case with no admission of guilt from the lender, the French newspaper said on Sunday, quoting unidentified sources. "Such a large amount is unthinkable vis-a-vis our shareholders as well as vis-a-vis other jurisdictions with which we have negotiated," UBS general counsel Markus Diethelm said in an interview with the newspaper. UBS had been pushing to settle the French investigation for less than the €300m it paid to resolve a similar issue in Germany in 2014, people familiar with the matter said earlier in March. The Swiss bank was looking to pay less than what it cost to resolve the German case as the French wealth management market was much smaller, the p...
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