Swiss bank Credit Suisse announced yesterday that it had agreed with the French judicial authorities to pay 238 million euros to avoid criminal charges for illegally soliciting clients in France and for allowing money laundering.

With this agreement, Credit Suisse AG avoids prosecution in France and resolves its dispute with both the tax authorities, to which it will pay 115 million euros, and the Public Prosecutor's Office, paying a fine of 123 million euros for acts committed between 2005 and 2012.

The agreement reached with the institution responsible for investigating economic and financial crimes includes two fines of 65.6 and 57.4 million euros and compensation for damages to the French state of 115 million euros.

The bank has twelve months to pay these amounts, in three installments.

In a statement quoted by Lusa, Credit Suisse stressed that the agreement "does not imply admitting criminal actions" and marked "an important step in the proactive resolution" of disputes.

The investigation began in 2016, following complaints, and revealed that 5,000 French clients had had an account with Credit Suisse for many years, undeclared to the French tax authorities, with hidden assets worth two billion euros, and that the bank had set up offshore structures to help clients avoid declaring certain assets to the French authorities.

Before Credit Suisse, HSBC Private Bank, the Swiss subsidiary of British banking giant HSBC, had already agreed to pay 300 million euros to escape a trial in France for tax fraud on November 14, 2017.

This was the first public interest agreement signed in France.