UBS investigates undisclosed Nazi-linked accounts at Credit Suisse

By Gnaneshwar Rajan and Surbhi Misra

(Reuters) - Swiss bank UBS is working with an independent ombudsman to shed light on Nazi-linked accounts, it said on Saturday, after the Wall Street Journal newspaper reported some accounts at collapsed bank Credit Suisse, which UBS bought in 2023, had not been disclosed in earlier investigations.

The Journal cited a December 2024 letter from the ombudsman to the U.S. Senate which said his probe had uncovered a cache of client files marked "American blacklist," a designation for those trading with Nazi-affiliated entities, and revealed signs of a cover-up during past reviews.

UBS said it was working with the independent ombudsman, Neil Barofsky, a former U.S. prosecutor who had previously been engaged by Credit Suisse to look into the issue, to lead a review aimed at addressing the legacy of Nazi-linked accounts held at predecessor banks of Credit Suisse.

"UBS is committed to contributing to a fulsome accounting of Nazi-linked legacy accounts," the bank said in a statement. "Since acquiring Credit Suisse ... we have made it a priority to ensure that the review is thorough and comprehensive."

Barofsky told the Senate his team of investigators expects to issue a final report around early 2026, the Journal report added.

Credit Suisse had commissioned its investigation after allegations levied in 2020 by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization that teaches the lessons of the Holocaust, that the bank held potential Nazi-linked accounts and failed to disclose them.

(Reporting by Gnaneshwar Rajan and Surbhi Misra in Bengaluru; Editing by David Holmes)