UBS’s French Tax Woes Could Worsen
- Bank appealed record penalty for helping clients hide money
- Swiss Supreme Court to rule if client data should go to Paris
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UBS Group AG thought it had seen the worst of its French tax scandal when the lender was slapped with a record $5 billion penalty in Paris last month. A looming Swiss Supreme Court ruling could add to its woes.
The court will decide in the coming weeks on whether a lower administrative court was right to rule UBS didn’t have to hand over data on its French clients to authorities in France. If it disagrees, the names, birth dates and account balances of thousands of clients could be on their way to Paris, arming judges with fresh evidence to blunt the Swiss bank’s appeal of its conviction or giving prosecutors evidence to pursue fresh charges against UBS.