Another Swiss private bank has avoided prosecution by agreeing to cooperate with the US Justice Department.

Zurich-headquartered Maerki Baumann has settled with the US Department of Justice over undeclared accounts and will pay a penalty of $23.92 million.

The family-owned bank has become the latest to sign a non-prosecution agreement under the department's Swiss Bank Program, which most recently saw Standard Chartered Bank's Swiss arm reach a similar deal, agreeing to pay a $6.337 million penalty. The programme, which was introduced in 2013, requires banks to cooperate in any related criminal or civil proceedings and demonstrate controls to stop misconduct involving undeclared US accounts.

Since August 2008, Maerki Baumann had 571 US-related accounts, comprising maximum assets under management of approximately $790 million, including assets of declared accounts. Maerki Baumann opened and serviced accounts for US persons that it knew or had reason to know were probably not declared as required by US law. The bank also offered a variety of traditional Swiss banking services, including hold mail instructions and numbered accounts, that it knew could help, and did help, US clients hide their assets and income from the Internal Revenue Service.

The bank's relationship managers travelled to the US around 35 times to meet with US clients for the purpose of building and maintaining relationships with them. In 2011, one of the relationship managers was charged in a US federal court with conspiring to impede and impair the IRS in the ascertainment, computation, assessment and collection of income taxes.

The DoJ also said that Maerki Baumann's relationship managers communicated with US clients by confidential means. For example, one relationship manager advised a client that if there was a need for urgent contact, he would send the client a card stating “Greetings from [relationship manager].”

“Maerki Baumann willfully and actively helped US taxpayers evade their tax obligations and cheat the American public,” said acting assistant attorney general Caroline Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s tax division. 

“Today’s agreement reveals the extent of such conduct and holds Maerki Baumann accountable, requiring the bank to make a detailed disclosure of its cross-border activities, pay an appropriate penalty, and provide continuing and extensive cooperation against its representatives, accountholders and other institutions.”