Swiss banks play down dispute over Holocaust bank settlement row

Switzerland’s two biggest banks on Tuesday played down a dispute over a $1.2 billion Holocaust settlement, saying they were confident that the settlement would be completed by the end of the year, even though some survivors were opting out.

Switzerland’s two biggest banks on Tuesday played down a dispute over a $1.2 billion Holocaust settlement, saying they were confident that the settlement would be completed by the end of the year, even though some survivors were opting out.

A spokesman for Credit Suisse said it was nothing unusual that some survivors preferred to opt out of the global settlement.

He did not rule out the possibility of individual lawsuits against the bank in light of the withdrawal but UBS said it was confident that the settlement would be finalised by the end of the year.

A number of Holocaust survivors announced earlier that they were withdrawing from the settlement because too much money was going to lawyers involved in the class-action lawsuit.

Paul Frenkel of the Group for World War II Survivor Justice said in New York that the settlement with Credit Suisse and UBS AG would entitle survivors to as little as $500 and strip them of the right to sue again.

“Our only control is to opt out,” said Frenkel, whose group represents about 200 people. “We have to get out of the suits, remove our names and preserve our claims.”

Gizella Weisshaus, one of the first to sue the banks, said she no longer wanted to be associated with the lawsuit because it would leave too little money for survivors.

The distribution of money from the settlement has not yet been decided. The judge overseeing the case in U.S. District Court is expected to release a draft plan on December 28.

Holocaust victims deposited money in Swiss banks as the Nazis gained power in Europe, expecting to retrieve it later. The banks stonewalled after the war, saying they could not find accounts or requesting nonexistent death certificates of victims killed in Nazi camps.

Edward Fagan, an attorney involved in a number of Holocaust-related lawsuits, did not publicly comment on the accusations. He has said he is willing to accept whatever fee is deemed appropriate by a court.

The banks have agreed to pay account holders and their heirs 10 times the value of their wartime accounts, said Elan Steinberg, executive director of the World Jewish Congress, which is a party to the settlement.

From staff and wire reports.