The Justice Department has expanded its criminal investigation into foreign banks that sell offshore private banking services to include Credit Suisse and HSBC, according to people briefed on the matter. The investigation into the two European banks is an outgrowth of an inquiry by federal prosecutors and regulators into UBS, the Swiss bank giant, [...]

A fresh writedown for UBS. An ethical writedown, that is. The below chart compiled by Covalance – an ethical research outfit. As you’ll notice, UBS – generally a poorly behaved child – has been very naughty since mid-April. (…) HSBC, meanwhile, is good as gold. Last year major positive issues regarding the Banking industry have [...]

Interactions of banks with governments are increasingly criticized in terms of ethics; meanwhile, environmental initiatives and philanthropic donations are the industry’s main positive news cows, states a report published today by Geneva-based ethical reputation research firm Covalence – Covalence Banking Industry Report 2008. (…) The historical EthicalQuote ranking calculated since 2002 sees Banks dropping from [...]

UBS AG is considering whether to reveal the names of up to 20,000 wealthy American clients as federal authorities intensify an investigation into offshore bank accounts, the New York Times said on Friday, citing people close to the inquiry. Federal investigators believe some clients may have used offshore accounts to hide as much as [...]

Thousands of South Africans who suffered under apartheid won the right yesterday to sue a number of companies, including BP, Citigroup and Ford, for allegedly helping to perpetrate human rights abuses. The US Supreme Court ruled that three class actions can use the American legal system to sue approximately 50 international corporations who they believe [...]

UBS, a financial heavyweight from Switzerland, is facing scrutiny by civil society organisations for investing in a proposed coal mine in Bangladesh. The Phulbari coal mine, proposed by GCM Resources Plc, is set to cause major social and environmental upheavals in the region, displacing upwards of 50 000 residents. Despite strong local opposition, investors UBS, [...]

Police detained 19 people Tuesday for allegedly taking part in a scheme to help large Brazilian companies evade taxes by laundering money through Swiss banks UBS AG and Credit Suisse Group and the U.S.-based American International Group Inc. The raids at 44 sites in four states were part of a clampdown by Brazilian authorities on [...]

The genocide in Darfur relies mainly on the income of the Sudanese government from the oil industry. Involved are also Swiss financial institutions such as UBS or Credit Suisse which in total hold around 6 billion US dollars worth of investments in the controversial oil companies in Sudan. UBS plans, furthermore, to underwrite PetroChina’s IPO [...]

In 2006 and 2007, UNI Finance conducted a survey on finance companies’ commitments to Principle 3 of the UN Global Compact, “Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining”. 35 major finance companies were asked to elaborate on their commitments to Principle 3. In a second [...]

According to the latest Banking Industry report from research group Covalence, competition for eco-minded customers has helped improve how banks’ services affect the environment. The study looked at the EthicalQuote Reputation Index for nine industries from June 2006 to June 2007 and found that the banking sector was ranked second highest in its overall reputation, [...]