| |
| |
![]() |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
WASHINGTON: An official of the Swiss bank UBS announced that it was halting its offshore banking services for US citizens after it came under scathing criticism for facilitating massive tax evasion.
The official, Mark Branson, UBS' chief financial officer of global wealth management, also said the bank is cooperating with the US government to identify US clients who might have committed tax fraud.
Branson told the Senate Permanent Subcommittee of Investigation that the bank "genuinely regrets" failures in complying with US regulations and will stop offering offshore banking to Americans.
"We have decided to exit entirely the business in question," Branson told the panel of senators.
"That means UBS will no longer provide offshore banking and securities services to US residents through its bank branches. Such services will only be provided to residents of this country through companies licensed in the United States," he said.
In addition, he added, "we are working with the US government to identify the names of US clients who may have engaged in tax fraud."
Branson said client identity is usually protected under Swiss law, but not when a foreign government formally request the information for a tax fraud investigation.
"We will fully support and assist that process," he said.
Branson was speaking at the committee's inquiry into wealthy American's use of foreign tax havens to evade taxes that is costing the country an estimated 100 billion in lost income, according to the senators.
UBS and the smaller LGT Bank in Liechtenstein were singled out in a 115-page report on the investigation into an estimated 1.5 trillion dollars in overseas tax havens, led by Democratic Senator Carl Levin.
"The evidence we have been able to obtain breaks through some of the wall of secrecy to show that these two banks have employed banking practices that facilitate, and have resulted in, tax evasion by US clients," said Democratic Senator Carl Levin, who led the six-month US investigations.
Branson defended some of his bank's practices as compliant with US laws allowing citizens to have offshore bank accounts.
But he attributed the abuses to employees that violated the banks' own standards, abuses that were uncovered in an internal investigation by UBS into its cross-border business with US clients last year.
"We did have detailed written policies that prohibited our employees from engaging in some of the conduct that our internal investigation has uncovered, such as assisting in the creation of sham offshore companies to defraud tax authorities," he told the senators.
"While our own review is not complete, it is apparent now, that our controls and supervision were inadequate. UBS is committed to taking both corrective and disciplinary measures."
"By exiting this business," he added, "we have taken a major step, designed to ensure that this misconduct will not be repeated."
- AFP/yb
|
