Luzerner Kantonalbank, Habib Bank AG Zurich, Banque Heritage, and Hyposwiss Private Bank Genève have signed non-prosecution agreements with American authorities. They will collectively pay penalties of more than $25 million.

In 2013 the DoJ offered Swiss banks the opportunity to have their potential criminal liabilities waived in the US by telling it by the end of 2013 whether they had reason to believe that they had committed tax-related criminal offences in connection with undeclared US-related accounts, and then by coming to an accommodation with it. The latest deals come shortly after Piguet Galland & Cie signed a similar agreement with the department to avoid prosecution.

Since August 2008, Luzerner, which was established in 1850 by the Canton of Lucerne, has held a total of 595 US-related accounts, which amounted to around $300 million. Luzerner offered various traditional Swiss banking services that helped US taxpayers conceal their identity from the Internal Revenue Service by minimising the paper trails associated with their undeclared assets and income. The bank will pay a penalty of $11.031 million.

Luzerner held accounts held in the name of non-US entities, while knowing, or having reason to know, that a US taxpayer held an interest in these entities, which were set up in jurisdictions such as Panama, the Seychelles and the British Virgin Islands. In an e-mail sent to the head of the private banking department in 2007, the head of the external asset manager desk at Luzerner described an external asset manager, who managed nearly all of 115 US-related accounts for insurance carriers, as “[specializing] in aspects of legal asset protection as well as tax optimisation and has approx SFr 750 million in assets under management, in particular in life insurances. Its main clients include wealthy US nationals (doctors, lawyers, etc.).”

HBZ, part of Mumbai-established Habib Bank Ltd, primarily serves South Asian commercial businesses and entrepreneurs and their families. Since August 2008, HBZ has handled 125 US-related accounts, comprising around $118.9 million in assets under management. HBZ Swiss Office helped create four Liechtenstein anstalts or entities with US beneficial owners, while it knew or should have known that these carried an intention of masking US ownership. It also facilitated the transfer of the funds from these accounts to HBZ Finance Limited, Hong Kong. The bank will pay a penalty of $9.4 million.

Banque Heritage, a Geneva-headquartered private bank, offered 'hold mail' services and opened accounts in the names of offshore structures. Since August 2008, the bank has handled 131 US-related accounts worth a combined $198 million. During this period, the bank had 47 US-related accounts with US beneficial owners that were held by entities created in Panama, the British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong, Belize or other foreign countries. It established banking relationships with US taxpayers who were transferring funds from other Swiss financial institutions that were closing such accounts and in at least seven such cases, comprising at least $10 million, Banque Heritage knew, or had reason to know, that the accounts were or may have been undeclared. The bank will pay a $3.846 million penalty.

Lastly, Hyposwiss Geneva held at least 21 undeclared accounts in the names of structures that were beneficially owned by US taxpayers since August 2008. It held 91 US-related accounts with $74.9 million in assets under management during this time. The bank knew, or had reason to know, that these structures were used by US clients to help conceal their identities from the IRS. It processed large cash and gold withdrawals totalling around $3.4 million for at least nine US taxpayers at or around the time the clients’ accounts were closed. Hyposwiss Geneva will pay a penalty of $1.109 million.