US charges Swiss bankers

SWISS private bank Wegelin & Co confirmed yesterday that three employees had been charged by US authorities for helping US taxpayers hide some $1.2 billion (€904m) in assets from tax authorities.

Wegelin said it had prepared its legal assessment of the matter ahead of the expected proceedings.

“Although US law has some scope for interpretation in this case, Wegelin & Co is certain that Swiss law was not broken at any point... The accused employees worked for the bank within the borders of Switzerland,” Wegelin told Reuters.