Report: UBS Nears Settlement of US Case Involving Credit Suisse

UBS reportedly could settle a case this week involving Credit Suisse, which UBS acquired in 2023.

The bank is set to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in the settlement of the case brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Thursday (Jan. 9), citing unnamed sources.

UBS did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

The case involves Credit Suisse’s violations of an agreement with the DOJ. The bank failed to follow through on its promise to provide the authorities with information about undeclared American-held accounts, according to the report.

Credit Suisse’s failure to report its closure of accounts with hundreds of millions of dollars allowed some U.S. taxpayers to move their accounts elsewhere without being detected, the report said.

That agreement, together with a $2.6 billion payout to authorities, followed Credit Suisse’s pleading guilty in 2014 to conspiring to help Americans cheat on their taxes, per the report.

The bank was acquired by UBS after Credit Suisse collapsed in 2023, per the report. As part of the acquisition, UBS set aside about $4 billion in legal provisions for any unresolved cases brought against Credit Suisse.

UBS completed its merger with Credit Suisse, which was its rival and a fellow Swiss banking giant, in June. With this move, UBS inherited all the rights and obligations of Credit Suisse.

In October, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) said it would require UBS to revise its recovery and emergency plans due to its takeover of Credit Suisse.

FINMA said the bank must harmonize the group structures, processes and IT platforms due to the integration, and must provide additional options for action to strengthen its crisis preparations and resolution planning.

A UBS spokesperson told PYMNTS at the time that the bank had already begun doing so.

“As FINMA confirms in its press release, UBS meets the current requirements to be resolvable in accordance with the preferred resolution strategy in the event of a crisis,” the UBS statement said. “The experience of the Credit Suisse crisis and the rescue by UBS now require the further development of resolution planning in order to expand existing plans in a targeted manner. UBS has already started this work.”