Private bank Bonhôte pays fine to United States

Another Swiss bank has reached an accord with the United States over tax evasion. Bank Bonhôte, a private bank, is the latest to pay a fine.

Under the terms of an agreement concluded with United States justice authorities in 2013, the canton Neuchatel institution will pay $620,000 (CHF610,000) to settle its affairs over Americans who held accounts there.

Since August 2008, Bank Bonhôte had a total of 63 declared and undeclared accounts linked to the United States, according to the US Justice Department. Total assets in those accounts amounted to nearly $89 million.

In exchange for the bank’s payment of the fine and its cooperation in prosecuting tax evaders with money hidden in Swiss banks, the Justice Department said the bank itself will be immune from prosecution.

Bonhôte is the latest to pay a fine of a total of 49 banks in the so-called “category two” of the Justice Department’s agreement with Swiss financial institutions. Banks are placed in a category – one, two or three – depending on their level of exposure to US clients.

swissinfo.ch and agencies