Basler Kantonalbank to take 100 mln Sfr provision for US tax (updated)

Basler Kantonalbank

19/12/2013 08:27

* Basler sees full-year profit halved due to move * Bank says dividend payouts not affected * Credit Suisse took 295 mln Sfr provision in 2011 * Julius Baer has not taken any provisions for US tax (Adds comment from Credit Suisse, Julius Baer, FINMA) ZURICH, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Basler Kantonalbank  BSKP.S  said it will take a 100 million Swiss franc ($112.74 million) provision against full-year earnings to cover legal costs and fines from a U.S. crackdown on tax evasion. The Basel-based bank said it expected full-year profit to be roughly half the 255.7 million francs it reported 2012, but that its ability to pay out a year-end dividend to shareholders and to its majority owner, the local government, was not affected. The bank said the move was in response to the Swiss financial regulator telling all Swiss banks, either being investigated or coming clean in a government-brokered programme, to prepare themselves financially.  ID:nL6N0JO3L4  The programme, brokered by the Swiss and U.S. governments, is to allow banks to avoid U.S. prosecution for aiding tax evasion. This could mean a wave of year-end provisions from Swiss banks, which have until the year-end to come forward if they are not already being formally investigated. Many have done so, but listed firm EFG International EFGN.S  is one of the few that has remained silent on its intentions thus far.  ID:nL6N0JS2WS  A spokesman for the Swiss financial regulator, FINMA, declined to comment on Basler Kantonalbank's statement. The success of that scheme, open to a host of second-tier banks in Switzerland, is key for a future settlement for more than a dozen larger Swiss banks being formally investigated, including Credit Suisse  CSGN.VX , Julius Baer  BAER.VX , Pictet, local government-backed Zuercher Kantonalbank (ZKB), and also Basler Kantonalbank. Credit Suisse, which took a 295 million franc provision two years ago, and Julius Baer, which has not set anything aside, declined to comment on Thursday. The U.S. pursuit of tax dollars sheltered in offshore accounts has piled pressure on Switzerland, the world's largest offshore finance centre with more than $2 trillion in assets. ($1 = 0.8870 Swiss francs) (Reporting by Alice Baghdjian, Katharina Bart and Oliver Hirt. Editing by Jane Merriman) ((alice.baghdjian@thomsonreuters.com)(+41 58 306 7461)(Reuters Messaging: alice.baghdjian.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: BASLERKB/