A Swiss court rejected the wealth manager's objection in a landmark tax case, paving the way for data on more than 40,000 UBS clients to reach French prosecutors.
A Swiss court upheld a decision to allow the handover of confidential data on the wealth manager's clients to prosecutors in France, who are pursuing a tax and money laundering case against UBS, in a Swiss federal ruling made public late on Wednesday. The court rejected the Swiss bank's appeal of a July 2019 decision, which effectively allowed Swiss tax authorities to cooperate with France.
The decision is the latest twist in a nine-year saga with incredibly high stakes – $5 billion – in a French tax evasion and money laundering judgment against UBS. An appeal was pushed back due to the pandemic. The matter represents UBS' biggest open wound and one which cost it a key shareholder backing last year.
Pugnacious Fight
The Swiss court said UBS can lodge a renewed appeal «if the legal question at stake is of fundamental importance or if the case is particularly significant for other reasons, a decision to be made by the Swiss Federal Court.» UBS, which has fought the French case pugnaciously and through every avenue it can, is highly likely to appeal on precisely those grounds.
A spokeswoman said the bank took note of the ruling. The wealth manager isn't the only bank to be scrutinized by French prosecutors: HBSC in 2017 settled a similar case for $342 million. UBS has previously sought to highlight that the wider Swiss banking industry is also at risk of coming under scrutiny, as finews.com reported – another tack which suggests UBS will appeal the latest Swiss ruling.
