Swiss banks sign up for US tax programme

December 31, 2013 – 16:08 The bigger Swiss banks had originally sparked the DoJ crackdown by knowingly or recklessly harbouring untaxed assets. But smaller regional institutions, which make up one in four of all Swiss banks, may also face considerable penalties, despite shouldering a far lesser burden of guilt. Under the terms of the Swiss-US tax deal, signed in August, the US authorities asked the 300-plus banks in Switzerland to arrange themselves into four categories depending on whether they have any tax evaders on their books. The categories range from group one for banks that are already under active investigation…