Credit Suisse rejects SwissLeak allegations regarding its business practices

Switzerland’s second-biggest bank says that many of the issues raised were historical, with some dating back as far as the 1940s

Credit Suisse is accused of accepting corrupt autocrats, suspected war criminals and human traffickers, drug dealers and other criminals as customers. Reuters

A German newspaper and other media on Sunday said a leak of data from Credit Suisse, Switzerland's second-biggest bank, reveals details of the accounts of more than 30,000 clients — some of them unsavoury — and points to possible failures of due diligence in checks on many customers.

Credit Suisse said it “strongly rejects the allegations and insinuations about the bank’s purported business practices".

German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung received the data anonymously through a secure digital mailbox more than a year ago but said it is unclear whether the source was an individual or a group. The paper did not make any payment or promises.

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung said it evaluated the data, which ranged from the 1940s until well into the last decade, along with the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and dozens of media partners including The New York Times and The Guardian.

It said the data points to the bank having accepted “corrupt autocrats, suspected war criminals and human traffickers, drug dealers and other criminals” as customers.

Credit Suisse said the allegations are “predominantly historical” and that “the accounts of these matters are based on partial, inaccurate or selective information taken out of context, resulting in tendentious interpretations of the bank’s business conduct”.

The bank said it had reviewed a large number of accounts potentially associated with the allegations, and about 90 per cent of them “are today closed or were in the process of closure prior to receipt of the press inquiries, of which over 60 per cent were closed before 2015”.

As for accounts that remain active, the bank said it is “comfortable that appropriate due diligence, reviews and other control related steps were taken in line with our current framework”. The bank also said the law prevents it from commenting on “potential client relationships”.

Switzerland has sought in recent years to shed its image as a haven for tax evasion, money laundering and the embezzlement of government funds, practices carried out through the misuse of its banking secrecy policies. But those laws still draw criticism.

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung published an excerpt from a statement by the source of the leak.

“I believe that Swiss banking secrecy laws are immoral,” it said. “The pretext of protecting financial privacy is merely a fig leaf covering the shameful role of Swiss banks as collaborators of tax evaders.”