Oldest Swiss bank to close after US tax evasion fine

Wegelin, Switzerland's oldest private bank, is to close permanently after pleading guilty to helping US citizens pay taxes on money held in offshore accounts.

The bank agreed to pay $57.8m in fines to US authorities in a New York court yesterday, and said it would "cease to operate" following the ruling. It admitted it had allowed over 100 American citizens to hide $1.2bn from the Internal Revenue Service over the past decade. Wegelin, founded in 1741, is the first overseas bank to plead guilty to tax evasion charges in the US. The ruling could have implications for a number of other, larger Swiss banks currently under investigation by US authorities. That process began in earnest in a 2009 deal with UBS, wherein the bank admitted hel...