ZURICH/VIENNA, Feb 21 (Reuters) – Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) was embroiled in a dirty money scandal on Monday after media reported the Swiss bank handled accounts for rights abusers rights, fraudsters and businessmen who had been sanctioned. .

One person leaked information about the accounts, which were held for decades from the 1940s to the 2010s, to Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung. The German daily then shared it with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and 46 other news outlets, including The New York Times, Britain’s Guardian and France’s Le Monde.

The Panama Papers-like investigations were released on Sunday and come as Credit Suisse, which denies any wrongdoing, tries to shake off a series of risk management scandals and a CHF 1.6 billion loss. Swiss ($1.75 billion) in 2021 which caused its stock to fall. . Read more

The New York Times said the leaked data covered more than 18,000 accounts collectively holding more than $100 billion.

The revelations also shone a spotlight on Switzerland just over three years after it abandoned, under pressure from the United States, a centuries-old culture of secrecy that had made the Alpine state a global safe haven without asking questions. questions for the rich of the world.

“For CS, even if the allegations are unfounded, it raises questions about its business practices in wealth management and should force management to spend time fighting fires instead of moving forward” , RBC analysts said.

Shares of Credit Suisse, which fell nearly a quarter last year, were down nearly 3% by mid-afternoon.

“Credit Suisse strongly rejects the allegations and insinuations regarding the bank’s purported business practices,” the bank said in a statement released late Sunday in response to the consortium’s reports.

The Swiss financial supervisory authority, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), which in 2018 blamed Credit Suisse for shortcomings in the fight against money laundering, said it was in contact with the bank about it.

“Compliance with money laundering regulations has been central to our supervisory activities for years,” a FINMA spokesperson said.

After a call from members of the European Parliament to review Switzerland’s banking practices and possibly include the country in the EU’s dirty money blacklist, the State Secretariat for International Finance of the Ministry of Finance said in an emailed statement that the country meets “all international standards on the exchange of information in tax matters and on the fight against money laundering, terrorist financing and corruption”. Read more

She added that Switzerland now participates in the automatic exchange of account data information with more than 100 countries.

Credit Suisse described the issue as “mostly historical”, adding that the information had been taken out of context.

The bank said it had received numerous inquiries from the consortium over the past three weeks and reviewed many accounts.

“About 90% of the accounts reviewed are now closed or were in the process of being closed before press inquiries were received, with more than 60% closed before 2015,” he said.

The bank said it was satisfied with its checks on the remaining accounts.

“The Swiss financial center has no interest in money of dubious origin. It attaches the utmost importance to maintaining its reputation and integrity,” the Swiss Bankers Association said.

($1 = 0.9167 Swiss francs)

Reporting by François Murphy in Vienna, Michael Shields in Zurich and Francesco Guarascio in Brussels; additional reporting by Bartosz Dabrowski in Gdansk; Editing by Frances Kerry, David Goodman, Kirsten Donovan

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