A senior Swiss politician has called for Swiss lender Credit Suisse's (CS) chief executive and chairman to resign, as political pressure mounts on the bank ahead of an expected settlement to its long-running tax spat with the US, Financial Times reported.
It is considering criminal charges against Credit Suisse, and a settlement in which Credit Suisse's parent or subsidiary pleads guilty could be announced within weeks, the report said citing people familiar with the matter.
Christian Levrat, head of the Swiss Social Democrats, reportedly said that Urs Rohner and Brady Dougan, Credit Suisse's chairman and chief executive, as well as general counsel, Romeo Cerutti, should all resign.
Christian Levrat reportedly said, "They are a liability for the bank. I was surprised that they didn't offer to step down at the bank's annual general meeting on Friday. That would have been responsible and in the interest of the bank and Switzerland."
Last week, there were reports that Credit Suisse was close to reaching a deal with the U.S. Justice Department to pay a penalty of more than $1 billion and also secure a guilty plea to settle allegations that it helped wealthy Americans evade taxes.
Credit Suisse is one among the about 12 Swiss banks that have been the target of a U.S. criminal investigation since 2011 regarding whether they helped Americans evade taxes.
A settlement of more than $1 billion by Credit Suisse would exceed the $780 million in fines and penalties that were paid by another Swiss banking giant UBS AG (UBS) in 2009 for similar conduct regarding American tax evaders.
Switzerland's bank secrecy began to erode in February 2009, when the U.S. charged UBS with helping Americans cheat the Internal Revenue Service. UBS avoided prosecution by paying $780 million, admitting it fostered tax evasion and handing over data on thousands of American accounts.
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