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UBS has settled a major tax evasion case in Germany and has agreed to pay a penalty of €300 million ($403 million), Switzerland’s biggest bank said on Tuesday in Zurich.
“The resolution of this matter is a significant step allowing UBS to move forward in this important market,” board chairman Axel Weber and chief executive Sergio Ermotti said in a message to shareholders.
Prosecutors in Bochum had launched investigations against UBS on suspicion that it had helped German clients park money in neighbouring Switzerland to evade taxes.
The penalty put a burden on earnings in the second quarter, but UBS announced that its net profit rose 15 per cent to 792 million Swiss francs ($876 million) year-on-year, owing to a cost-saving programme.
Despite the settlement, UBS is still faced with similar but unresolved tax cases in Germany, Belgium and France.
French authorities have demanded that UBS lodge a security payment of €1.1 billion until the tax matter is settled.
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