Julius Baer reaches preliminary agreement with US authorities over aiding tax evasion
Julius Baer has reached a preliminary agreement with US authorities over the resolution of an investigation into whether the bank helped US citizens evade taxes. The bank has set aside almost $550m to deal with the settlement. The bank said that it expects to reach a firm agreement with US authorities over the case in March.

Julius Baer said on Wednesday that it had reached a preliminary agreement with the United States Justice Department over an investigation into whether it had helped wealthy American clients evade United States taxes.

The Swiss bank also said that it had set aside an additional $200 million to cover potential financial penalties. In total, the Swiss bank has now earmarked almost $550 million for the expected financial charges related to the inquiry.

The prospective settlement with American officials is the latest in a number of investigations targeting Swiss financial institutions after UBS agreed to pay $780 million in fines in 2009. That settlement related to federal claims that UBS had helped wealthy Americans evade taxes, while the bank also agreed to disclose the names of 19,000 of its clients.

In a statement on Wednesday, Julius Baer said that it expected to reach a deal with the United States attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York by March, though any agreement was still subject to the final approval of American authorities. The office declined to comment on Wednesday.