ZURICH (Reuters) – A group of activists wants UBS to lose its exemption from U.S. regulations that allow the Swiss bank to operate in the U.S. pension market despite violating banking rules, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported on Monday.
The US Department of Labor is considering an application from UBS to extend the exemption to the world’s largest with $30 trillion in assets under management, the newspaper said.
Under U.S. rules, banks that have been convicted of criminal offenses or punished by regulators are not allowed to manage the pension assets of U.S. workers.
A group of activists is now lobbying the Labor Ministry to end the Swiss bank’s exemption, the newspaper said, highlighting how UBS paid around $20 billion in fines for almost 100 violations between 2000 and 2023.
UBS’s lawyers told the newspaper that the problems were caused by individual staff. The bank has filed a 500-page application to extend the exemption, which expired in June.
“We have submitted our application and expect a decision soon,” a bank spokesman told Reuters.
James Henry, who has worked for Tax Justice Network – a group that campaigns against tax havens – said banks often did not feel the consequences of their actions, despite stiff penalties.
“Criminal transactions are desirable because they are lucrative, they generate more money than the fines cost, and none of those responsible go to jail,” Henry told the newspaper.
In recent years, UBS has been convicted in France of helping wealthy clients avoid taxes, resulting in a 4.5 billion euro ($4.9 billion) fine that was reduced to 1.8 billion euros on appeal.
UBS was also one of 10 banks that agreed to pay $46 million in June to settle a long-running antitrust case accusing them of conspiring to manipulate the interest rate swap market.
It has also inherited lawsuits linked to Credit Suisse, following its emergency takeover of Switzerland’s second-largest lender last year.
($1 = 0.9147 euros)
(Reporting by John Revill and Oliver Hirt; Editing by Mark Potter)
