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Credit Suisse Stock Halted, To Take Q4 Charge, In Settlement Talks Over US Dollar Payments

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Credit Suisse confirms that it is in advanced settlement
discussions with the New York County District Attorney’s Office, the
United States Department of Justice, the Board of Governors of the
Federal Reserve System and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and
the Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC"). The discussions relate
to a previously disclosed investigation into US dollar payments during
the period 2002 to April 2007 involving parties that are subject to US
economic sanctions. As part of the settlement, Credit Suisse is likely
to pay a total of USD 536 million combined.

Credit Suisse has previously disclosed the
investigation by US authorities and that it was conducting an internal
review into certain US dollar payments involving countries, persons or
entities that may be subject to US economic sanctions. In December
2005, Credit Suisse decided to exit the business in question and
subsequently proactively undertook an extensive independent
investigation into the Zurich-based payment activity and other
practices, working closely and constructively with regulators and US
authorities. Credit Suisse’s internal review has now been concluded and
discussed with these and other government authorities including Credit
Suisse’s main regulator, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory
Authority, FINMA.

Credit Suisse is committed to the highest
standards of integrity and regulatory compliance in all its businesses,
and takes this matter extremely seriously. Credit Suisse has enhanced
its procedures to prevent practices of this type from occurring in the
future. In particular, Credit Suisse:

  • Terminated its business with all OFAC-sanctioned parties in 2006, including closing its representative office in Tehran;
  • Enhanced its global compliance program by, among other things,
    appointing a global sanctions compliance officer, establishing
    competency centres and designating individuals responsible for
    coordinating and monitoring compliance with sanctions programs and
    enhancing its global policies, procedures and employee training
    programs, which will continue to be regularly reviewed for
    effectiveness; and
  • Enhanced sanctions filters screening designed to cover incoming and outgoing transactions.

While Credit Suisse had recorded provisions for this matter through the
end of the third quarter of 2009, it expects to record an additional
pre-tax charge of CHF 445 million in the current quarter, which is
estimated to be approximately CHF 360 million after tax.

 

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Tue, 12/15/2009 - 16:10 | 164893 Cursive
Cursive's picture

Several things at work here:

1.) Trade embargoes don't work because someone always cheats and these someone's aren't the usual underworld criminals we think of, although, come to think of it, CS and the other banksters are about that level of moral/ethical fiber.

2.) Shucks, you caught us, so please take 10% of what we looted.

3.) This probably won't prevent CS from any current or future FR backstops.

4.) Is this currently affecting/going to affect the dollar carry trade?

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 16:10 | 164897 Arm
Arm's picture

Sounds very routine, unless the fine is huge.  Otherwise I can't understand why they would halt the issue

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 17:00 | 164967 Brett in Manhattan
Brett in Manhattan's picture

Usually the insiders at the exchange sell short in advance of the annoucement, halt trading, then, the specialist opens the stock lower and covers with the sell orders coming in.

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 18:46 | 165080 Rainman
Rainman's picture

This is mostly about the Iran money laundering operation, I suspect. Lloyd's was big into it too.

The punishment SHOULD BE the harshest......losing an ability to do business in the U.S. ......and mega fines. They were clearly into it bigtime. 

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 21:18 | 165315 Emmanuel Goldstein
Emmanuel Goldstein's picture

You think that is going to be a big punishment?

Losing the ability to do business in the US?

With your economy headed into the dumper on a fast train?

Right.

Probably be a good move pretty soon to get out anyway.

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 16:30 | 164927 TimmyM
TimmyM's picture

RKH prints 4 month low- Let the "Airing of Grievances" begin

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 16:54 | 164962 tip e. canoe
tip e. canoe's picture

just make sure the back door fully shuts after the bustout is done.  we don't want the dons to catch their death during the sitdowns from any lingering (over)drafts.

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 16:33 | 164936 anynonmous
anynonmous's picture

David Kelly - JP Morgan - on Bloomberg "economic recovery on verge of  becoming an expansion"

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 17:24 | 164990 deadhead
deadhead's picture

thanks david...i'm delighted to hear that the housing problem is all fixed now.  as well as consumer demand. as well as a reversal of credit contraction (even the fed shows it has contracted enormously). i'm particularly delighted that our financial system is all better now.  i must have missed the memo on commercial real estate:  can you forward a copy to me David?  did jpm unwind all those nasty little derivatives?  that would surely eliminate global armageddon risk and would help with an expansion.

 

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 16:44 | 164947 Miles Kendig
Miles Kendig's picture

With UBS out, and CS to follow, how the hell will the ultra upper middle class continue not paying their taxes?

Ping!

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 16:53 | 164958 curbyourrisk
curbyourrisk's picture

With UBS out, and CS to follow, how the hell will the ultra upper middle class continue not paying their taxes?

 

Get a job with the Federal Government!

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 17:20 | 164988 earnyermoney
earnyermoney's picture

specifically the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 17:21 | 164986 ConfederateH
ConfederateH's picture

Once again, witness the Feds bitch-slapping the Swiss.  Why should a Swiss bank (Switzerland being a neutral country) have to comply with a US embargo?  Why should UBS be responsible for wealthy US citizens setting up trusts to avoid criminally high US tax rates?  Because, for those of you who haven't figured it out yet, the US federal government is a criminal organization! Hey y'all, Geitner is a tax evader as is practically every Democrat in government.  In the world of vampire squids, might makes right, and only little people pay taxes.

Here is what you need to watch:  Oswald Grübel (Ossie) was running CS during this time period.  Since taking over UBS, Grubel has instituted a policy of 100% reputation protection for UBS.  The UBS brand must remain squeaky clean.  Current policy is that any UBS employee having anything to do with anything that could possibly tarnish UBS's reputation is out on his ear. 

Hey Ossie, it's time for you to kick your own sorry ass out of the company!

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 17:25 | 164991 You Cant Handle...
You Cant Handle the Truth's picture

"criminally high tax rates"

Hi.  Some of us here were alive when tax rates were astronomically higher in the United States and this country was doing just fine.  You are welcome to live in your libertarian, low tax environment in Antarctica.  

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 17:33 | 164997 ConfederateH
ConfederateH's picture

Yes we can have even higher taxes.  Yes we can have even more taxes.  Yes we can have even more government.  Yes we can have even more freeloaders and parasites demanding outrageous pensions and health insurance plans from the state.

You Democrat/Socialists just can't figure it out.  Why don't you just fucking tax yourselves and leave the rest of us alone?  Anyone who can make it on their own knows the reason why:  because you can't!  So you parasites want to suck our blood while telling us that we are the greedy ones.  Up yours asshole.

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 18:51 | 165087 cougar_w
cougar_w's picture

People paid into their pensions. And in any case those were benefits of employment. Or are you talking about gov pensions? Actually I don't see a problem with people being supported in retirement, and retirement funds are a good source of nonvolatile investment money.

What is a "freeloader" exactly? I'm not really getting an image there. Help me out.

And here's an idea; if you don't pay taxes, nobody will come to your house and put your the fire. Or patrol your street. Or educate your kids (which you don't have because you don't have time to homeschool them). I mean, there's a reason for taxation, you know?

cougar

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 19:00 | 165099 ConfederateH
ConfederateH's picture

That's a real potpourri, cougar. 

I am of course talking about government employee PAYGO pensions.  If income taxes were reasonable, or better yet non-existant, then there would be no need for tax-advantaged 401k's.  This is another example of a very poor government solution to a government created problem.

A freeloader is someone who doesn't pull his own weight.  Alles Klar?

My son died in a house fire due partially to the negligence of the fire department.  Like all good government departments, their main concern is covering for each other.  Don't start with fire departments with me.  Before he died, he was mugged and robbed twice by Albanian gangs.  Don't start with police departments with me.

The real issue is what is a reasonable level of taxation?  10% sounds reasonable to me.  Anything about 25% distorts the market and is criminal.

 

 

 

 

Wed, 12/16/2009 - 10:00 | 165777 Arm
Arm's picture

Completely agree, though I would have used other adjectives.  

Taxes are supposed to be two things, and two things only:

1) Paying for the services you consume

2) Paying a "social justice" toll due to certain injustices that exist

 

I definitely do no question the need to pay for services consumed; in fact I mostly do it anyways, because government services are shoddy and I can afford better standards (eg. I am double paying).  Now, I'm not even against paying a "social justice" transfer.  Some people have had a very unhappy underpriviliged upbrinings or even have congenital defects that affect their ability to earn income.  I think the question is really what would be a fair "social justice" transfer payment?  Maybe 10%?   Taxes should be 25-30% maximum, but that should include EVERYTHING (no hidden VAT charges, land taxes, car ownership taxes, INFLATION, etc)

 

Excessive taxation is actually immoral.  It is nothing more than stealing by the populace.  You need to have VERY strong arguements for making people pay for things they don't consume (or equivalently paying for more than their share of services consumed)

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 17:41 | 165003 GoldSilverDoc
GoldSilverDoc's picture

Psssst.  Your ignorance of economic history is showing.  

When tax rates were that high, 1) the value of the US currency hadn't lost 95% of its purchasing power, and pushed Juan the lawn boy into the 35%-overall bracket (income, sales, property, fees, licenses, etc., etc., etc.  2) libertarian, low-tax environments were what made the US economy able to afford (for awhile) those confiscatory tax rates 3) if you want high taxes, I will be glad to accommodate you.   Just send 50% of your income to me, here, at "Screw The People, Box 666, Mephistopolis, Hell".

For a more pithy reply to your inane idiocy, see comment directly above.

 

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 17:49 | 165015 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Inane idiocy? From the mouths of Southern-fried Nascar babes....

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 18:01 | 165030 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Tool.

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 21:24 | 165325 eggy123
eggy123's picture

Um... check out the loopholes available at that time in history dumbass. Yes, the rate was very high, but nobody paid it because it was riddled with very well-know loopholes.

It was a show put on by the politicians that only the dumbest would buy. Sorry, I guess that would make you dumb.

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 22:25 | 165396 nedwardkelly
nedwardkelly's picture

Ugh... what a joke.

That said, to me though the amount of the taxes is only part of the problem. Equally important is what is done with them.

Cash for clunkers? Lifetime disability payments for some schmuck that doesn't feel like working anymore? Subsidized employment costs for walmart? Too high wages for Government bums that haven't seen a hard days work in their life?

Please. You must earn way too much money if you're happy paying more taxes for that sort of bullshit.

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 17:24 | 164989 knukles
knukles's picture

We marvel at the collective's common ordinary non-market (systematic or specific) risk management techniques. 

Profoundly disturbilng.  To do or not to do in one's own pants, that is the question. 

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 17:51 | 165018 masterinchancery
masterinchancery's picture

The very high tax rate period in the US coincided with levels of very low growth, very low innovation (little venture capital) and high unemployment except during several wars.  You want to repeat that?

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 18:00 | 165028 ConfederateH
ConfederateH's picture

In Switzerland, the majority of income taxes collected goes to the Canton and the Community, not to the Federal Government.  Tax rates vary enormously depending on which Canton and Comminity one lives in, with low tax Cantons having tax rates 25% as high as high tax rate Cantons.

Consequently, the clever, industrious and wealthy flee the high tax Cantons for the low.  The loser, high tax Cantons end up with the parasites and socialists.  This is the beauty of tax competition, and it would be possible in the US too if all the states sceded an then formed a confederacy.

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 18:29 | 165058 THE DORK OF CORK
THE DORK OF CORK's picture

"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. So long Holly."

Wed, 12/16/2009 - 00:22 | 165497 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

You don't have to be a MENSA to move from Sacramento to Reno once you retire. The canton-hopping is happening here and will continue. Businesses will move to "right-to-work" states or states with weak or no unionized labor. High net worth and high earners will move to NV, WA, TX and like. When Cali state tax gets to 15% on top of very high Fed taxes, people will begin to play the Canton Hop.

All the talk of raising taxes.... how about cutting some spending! And impeaching the liar in the White House.

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 18:06 | 165034 J. Pierpont Finch
J. Pierpont Finch's picture

Timing is interesting.

A cynic might suggest this will be used as excuse over next few weeks when explaining to staff why bonuses are lower than expected - and lower than peers'.

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 18:54 | 165091 Lou629
Lou629's picture

..." if all the states sceded an then formed a confederacy."

As i recall y'all tried that once before.  How'd that work out?  I'm sure you've heard that saying about those who don't learn from history being condemned to repeat it. 

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 19:03 | 165105 ConfederateH
ConfederateH's picture

Although both of them have completely sodomized the constitution, of one thing I am sure:  Barack Obama is no Abraham Lincoln!

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 19:12 | 165120 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

US war mongering criminality knows no bounds as evidenced by the 25 years of seizure of Iranian assets and the denial of their UN charter declared rights of access to global trade and the US's abuse of it's global reserve currency and use of that status to impose defacto hegemony. While US citizens can walk down the street pretending the US's blockade on Japan wasn't the "make my day" challenge to the Japanese Empire before WWII the normality of supply denial induced confrontational warfare will continue. Right now anglo-franco alliance is backing a minority group of Iranian elkitists from the nortern suburbs of Tehran to try to steal power from the Iranian majority in the style of Rockefeller's CFR & Trilateral commissions theft of the US red & blue political proccess. The only strategic difference between Iran and Japan of old is that their empire has no hope in an all out confrontation with both the EU and US liberal fascists and they are a global meltdown away from having any possibility of an expansionist agenda. The Iranian's real hope is that a resurgent conservative youth in the US that chooses the Jeffersonian legacy at the same time as Japan walks away from the Trilateral commission to embrace Asia once more with something far more accommodating than an imperialist agenda.

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 20:49 | 165277 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

I thought Credit Suisse was Swiss... not a bitch of the US Govt.

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 21:54 | 165363 THE DORK OF CORK
THE DORK OF CORK's picture

There is two types of bitches in this world , that is GOLD Bitches and $ Bitches.

Tue, 12/15/2009 - 22:12 | 165386 glenlloyd
glenlloyd's picture

it must have been an "airing of the dirty laundry" day.

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