France's top court demands new trial over $2 billion UBS fine

investing.com:

By Tassilo Hummel, Mathieu Rosemain and Noele Illien

PARIS (Reuters) — France's top court on Wednesday ruled a new trial should be held over a 1.8 billion-euro ($1.95 billion) fine against UBS for promoting illegal banking services and money laundering in the country.

The court, which also upheld the guilty verdict against the bank, said a new trial would need to take place at the Paris appeals court to determine a new fine, if any.

The ruling reverses and annuls the decision of the Paris Court of Appeal from Dec. 13, 2021, but only insofar as it relates to penalties and civil interests, all other provisions being expressly maintained, the court said.

UBS's shares, which were already up on the day, spiked as much as 3% more after news broke that the 1.8 billion-euro fine was struck down. However, they then erased those gains and more, to last stand up around 1.6%.

The decision by the Cour de Cassation, France's highest judicial court, means the guilty verdict on UBS is final. The court said a new trial over penalties was needed because the previous decision on the fine did not follow all the correct legal procedures.

UBS said it was disappointed the court had upheld the overall verdict against it, adding it continued to maintain that it acted in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations, and would defend itself in the forthcoming trial.

The ruling once again extends uncertainty over the fine for the Swiss bank, which sought to overturn the verdict and penalty for having wooed wealthy French clients into hiding undeclared funds in Swiss bank accounts between 2004 and 2012.

«UBS may be able to partially reduce the 1.1bn euros of provisions currently set aside (for the case),» Keefe, Bruyette & Woods said in a