French court slashes UBS Group penalties to 1.8 billion euros

• Shares of UBS jumped around 2% after the court slashed the fine

• The bank was earlier fined 4.7 billion euros, equivalent to around $5 billion

A French appeals court on Monday slashed the penalty for UBS Group to around 1.8 billion euros, or $2 billion, for allegedly helping wealthy clients to evade taxes in France.

The bank was earlier fined 4.7 billion euros, equivalent to around $5 billion, in 2019. Shares of UBS jumped around 2% after the court slashed the fine.

“We’re not happy about the guilty verdict. We still believe that we didn’t commit any wrongdoing, and that the law is in our favor,” said Denis Chemla, a lawyer who represented UBS. 

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The prosecutors said that Switzerland-based UBS bankers visited France where they were unauthorized to do business.

Prosecutors’ claim

The prosecutors had alleged at the initial trial that UBS bankers wooed clients to open accounts in Switzerland and avoid paying taxes.

In 2019, the judges found UBS guilty of illegally recruiting clients in France and helping them to launder money that wasn’t declared to French authorities.

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UBS, on the other hand, has denied the allegations saying some bankers had met clients in France but it does not prove any unlawful business.

The case, which was scheduled in June 2020, was heard by the appeals court in March because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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