Credit Suisse faces penalties over Mozambique loan deals
ZURICH (AP) — Credit Suisse has announced settlements with British, Swiss and U.S. authorities in connection with loans provided to state companies in Mozambique, with the Swiss financial markets authority setting new restrictions on the top-drawer bank and saying it “seriously violated” anti-money-laundering requirements in the case.
The Zurich-based bank said it expects to take a $230 million charge in the third quarter in connection with the settlements. It said the U.S. settlement involved some $275 million, and that it plans to pay a penalty of about $200 million and forgive $200 million worth of loans to Mozambique’s government in an arrangement with British regulators.
The Swiss financial market authority, FINMA, said Credit Suisse had violated its duty to file a “suspicious activity report” in the case and didn’t properly attend to the risks in some lending transactions with governments.
In 2013, the bank’s British subsidiaries arranged two loans guaranteed by Mozambique’s government totaling $1 billion — equal to nearly 6% of the country’s economic output — to state-owned companies ProIndicus and Empresa Mocambiana de Atum, or EMATUM, the Swiss authority said. The loans were mostly intended to be used to pay for maritime security vessels and a tuna fleet, it said.
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