UBS fined 1.8 bln euros over tax evasion in French appeal

PARIS

A French court fined Swiss bank UBS 1.8 billion euros ($2.0 billion) yesterday on appeal for its role in helping French residents commit tax fraud.

UBS took the fight to the Paris appeals court after being initially hit with a 3.7-billion-euro fine in a ruling in 2019, France’s biggest-ever tax evasion penalty.

The court found UBS guilty of dissimulation of serious tax fraud and illegal banking activities in France between 2004 and 2012.

According to prosecutor Muriel Fusina, UBS was “gathering large amounts [of money] by offering efficient wealth management, but also concealing that wealth, or part of it, from the French taxman” between 2004 and 2012.

French authorities claim that more than 10 billion euros were shielded from the eyes of their tax officials over that period. Since then Switzerland’s once-renowned banking secrecy has become more transparent with the introduction of automatic financial data-sharing between countries from 2018.