The French subsidiary of Swiss bank UBS could be placed under formal investigation in the coming days as part of a broader probe into its business practices, a person familiar with the matter said on Friday, reports Reuters.
UBS France CEO Jean-Frederic de Leusse was questioned by judges who are deciding whether to formally place the bank under investigation - a step which under French law means there is serious or consistent evidence pointing to probable implication of a suspect in a crime -, the source said.
UBS officials in Zurich declined to comment. De Leusse did not immediately return a phone call placed to his office in Paris.
The questioning is likely to continue next week, and the bank could be formally placed under investigation when it has been completed, the source said, confirming an earlier report in Le Monde.
UBS is being probed by the French judiciary into whether it offered potential French clients investments that were allegedly designed to cheat the taxman. Three UBS France executives have been under investigation in relation to that probe, a judicial source told Reuters in April.
Regulators around the world are cracking down on tax evasion and money laundering in the wake of the financial crisis and the issue has taken on particular resonance in France after Budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac quit and admitted to having held an undeclared Swiss bank account.
Read more of this report from Reuters.