UBS Drops on Report of Potential $6.2 Billion Fine in France

Oct. 3 (Bloomberg) — UBS AG dropped in Zurich trading after Swiss newspaper Le Temps reported the bank may be facing a fine of as much as 4.9 billion euros ($6.2 billion) in a French probe of allegations it helped clients evade taxes.

Switzerland’s biggest bank dropped as much as 3.2 percent, the most since May, and was 2.1 percent lower as of 9:45 a.m. Le Temps said the fine could exceed a 1.1 billion-euro bail the bank paid earlier this week, citing a document written by the investigative judges leading the case.

Officials for UBS said they couldn’t immediately comment today when reached by Bloomberg News.

French President Francois Hollande stepped up efforts to fight tax dodgers after a former budget minister was forced to resign when his secret account was exposed. Finance Minister Michel Sapin toughened the stance against fiscal evasion with a Franco-Swiss tax accord in June.

UBS has criticized the French investigation as a “highly politicized process” that hasn’t followed “elementary facets of the rule of law.”

The bank, based in Zurich, plans to appeal the bond demand at France’s highest court and it’s also challenging the judicial process, including the right to a fair trial, the lender said on Sept. 22.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeffrey Vögeli in Zurich at [e-mail] To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elisa Martinuzzi at [e-mail] Cindy Roberts