2023-08-14 19:45:13
The Swiss bank UBS has reached an agreement with the American courts to close, in exchange for the payment of 1.45 billion dollars, civil proceedings for fraud linked to the sale of toxic “subprime” financial products, at the origin of the financial crisis of 2008.
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) said in a statement on Monday that this transaction put an end to the last lawsuits it initiated following the crisis.
In total, it has collected more than 36 billion dollars from around twenty banks, rating agencies or lending organizations.
The Swiss bank indicated, in a separate statement announcing this agreement related to acts that occurred in 2006-2007, that the sum had already been fully provisioned in its accounts.
The procedure was launched in November 2018 by the American justice. It focused on the design and sale of securities secured by residential mortgages (mortgage backed security, RMBS).
Defaults by the households that took out the loans led to a cascade of charges and provisions in the global financial sector and, ultimately, to the 2008 crisis.
“This agreement represents accountability for those who thought they were above the law,” said Georgia State Attorney Ryan Buchanan.
According to him, the behavior of UBS “played a significant role in the causes of the financial crisis which affected millions of Americans”.
The US lawsuit accused UBS of “knowingly making false and misleading statements to purchasers” of these financial products and of “committing fraud once morest investors in connection with the sale of 40 RMBS in 2006 and in 2007”.
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