Credit Suisse Group AG agreed to pay €238 million ($234 million) to settle a French criminal probe into allegations the bank helped clients stash undeclared funds.
The deal brings to an end the investigation into suspicions of laundering of tax fraud proceeds, top financial prosecutor Jean-Francois Bohnert said in court Monday. Under the terms of the agreement, the Swiss bank makes no admission of guilt.
"It is an important moment for Switzerland's banking history" and the relation of the country with the French tax authorities, Judge Stephane Noel said during the Paris hearing, after detailing the amounts and approving the resolution of the criminal allegations.
The settlement comes three days before a Credit Suisse
Credit Suisse said in a statement that it is "pleased to resolve this matter, which marks another important step in the proactive resolution of litigation and legacy issues."
French authorities have often resorted to settlements in recent years to end large probes and in June the PNF
The bank last week also won a key class-action U.S. lawsuit over allegations of price-fixing in the foreign-exchange market, vindicating its decision to fight rather than settle a lawsuit that originally threatened it with as much as $19 billion in potential damages.
Monday's case began in 2016 and hit headlines the following year with raids in five nations — France, Germany, the Netherlands, the U.K. and Australia. Dutch authorities said after the raids that the tip that sparked the investigation came from one or more informers.
The case is similar to another probe in France into local rival UBS Group AG that culminated last year in
