Another historic Swiss bank under U.S. tax spotlight
Source: Reuters
Another historic Swiss bank under U.S. tax spotlight
By Martin de Sa'Pinto
ZURICH | Wed Sep 11, 2013 9:35am EDT
(Reuters) - Swiss private bank Rahn & Bodmer is under investigation by U.S. authorities, it said on Wednesday, the latest bank to be targeted in lengthy dispute over tax evasion.
The Zurich-based bank, set up as a silk trader in 1750, has come under investigation despite a recent Swiss-U.S. deal to allow some Swiss banks to pay fines to avoid or defer prosecution over tax evasion by their U.S. customers.
That deal was a step forward in a long-running U.S. drive to pierce the shroud of Swiss bank secrecy and applies to about 100 second-tier Swiss banks, which could have to disclose information and face penalties of up to 50 percent of assets they managed on behalf of wealthy Americans.
The agreement did not, however, cover a first group of banks already under U.S. criminal investigation including Credit Suisse, Julius Baer and state-backed regional bank Zuercher Kantonalbank.
[font size=1]
-snip-[/font]
Read more:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/11/us-swiss-usa-tax-idUSBRE98A0OV20130911