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Credit Suisse data leak exposes dubious clients' accounts holding $100bn

Credit Suisse data leak exposes dubious clients' accounts holding $100bn
Credit Suisse said it 'strongly rejects' allegations of wrongdoing. Photo: Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters (Arnd Wiegmann / reuters)

A vast leak that reveals details of the hidden wealth of more than 30,000 clients has rocked Credit Suisse (CS) in the latest scandal to engulf the Swiss bank.

The Panama papers-style investigations into a leak of data on thousands of accounts allegedly including “corrupt autocrats, suspected war criminals and human traffickers” points to possible failures of due diligence in checks on many customers.

The German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung received the data, which ranged from the 1940s until well into the last decade, along with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) which shared it with dozens of media partners including The New York Times and The Guardian.

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Read more: NatWest pays £298m in bonuses as it closes 32 branches

The British newspaper said the leaked data covered 18,000 accounts related to 30,000 clients collectively holding more than $100bn (£80bn).

The trove of banking data shows how the Swiss bank allegedly managed money for a “human trafficker in the Philippines, a Hong Kong stock exchange boss jailed for bribery, a billionaire who ordered the murder of his Lebanese pop star girlfriend and executives who looted Venezuela’s state oil company, as well as corrupt politicians from Egypt to Ukraine”, according to The Guardian.

The newspaper added that the investigation showed that Credit Suisse had flouted international banking rules by holding funds linked to crime and corruption over several decades.

French news outlet Le Monde added that out of the $100bn, at least $8bn was linked to clients identified as problematic.

Shares in Switzerland's second-biggest bank, which had already been under pressure after a series of risk-management failures and a heavy 2021 loss, were down in pre-market activity. Chart: Yahoo Finance UK
Shares in Switzerland's second-biggest bank, which had already been under pressure after a series of risk-management failures and a heavy 2021 loss, were down in pre-market activity. Chart: Yahoo Finance UK

"Credit Suisse strongly rejects the allegations and insinuations about the bank's purported business practices," Credit Suisse said in a statement issued on Sunday night in response to the consortium's reports.

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

Although some bank accounts date back decades, the majority were opened from 2000 onwards. Still, the bank’s current operations are not included.

Read more: UK to scrap golden visas for foreign investors

As for accounts that remain active, Credit Suisse 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”.

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.”

OCCRP co-founder Paul Radu said in a statement: "I've too often seen criminals and corrupt politicians who can afford to keep on doing business as usual, no matter what the circumstances, because they have the certainty that their ill-gotten gains will be kept safe and always within their reach."

The international investigation is the latest in a series of setbacks faced by Credit Suisse.

In March, the bank was rocked by the collapse of the Greensill financial company, which cost the lender $5bn.

Its new president, Antonio Horta-Osório, elected at the end of April to put the bank back on track after a spying scandal was forced to resign last month after flouting COVID rules.

Watch: Credit Suisse ends torrid year with $2.2bn loss