"EFG International, along with its parent company EFG Bank European Financial Group, has reached a formal resolution with the US Department of Justice in connection with its participation in Category 2 of the US Tax Programme," it said in a statement late yesterday.

Under the programme, a raft of Swiss banks have signed NPAs and paid fines after accepting that they provided secret accounts for US persons. The programme was originally signed between the US and Swiss governments in August 2013. Under its terms, banks and other financial institutions can say whether they do, or do not, believe they had violated US laws regarding provision of secret accounts.

Under the agreement, EFG and EFG Bank European Financial Group will make a one-time payment of $29.988 million, higher than the $10.8 million sum already provided for, primarily as a result of certain clients taking actions inconsistent with the information they had provided to EFG International, the firm said.

"EFG International believes the agreement reached is positive for the business, removes a major source of uncertainty and will enable senior management to devote more of their time to delivering profitable growth," it said.

In its statement on the issue, the US Department of Justice said that, until 2013, EFG conducted a US cross-border banking business that "aided and assisted certain of its US clients" to opening and main undeclared accounts in Switzerland.

"EFG offered a variety of traditional Swiss banking services that it knew could assist, and did in fact assist, US clients in the concealment of assets and income from the IRS ," the DoJ said.

"Certain EFG Bank private bankers based in Switzerland traveled to the US approximately two to three times per year until July 2008. At least 72 business trips to the US took place in connection with seven EFG Bank private bankers between 2005 and 2013," it continued.

"Private bankers from EFG Bank conducted meetings with clients in the US in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin and Washington, DC," it said.

The DoJ described how an EFG Bank private banker had an established third-party client referral model for US clients that involved two lawyers in the US, one US accountant and one Swiss fiduciary company. At least one member of EFG’s senior management approved and supported this private banker’s relationship with one of the two US lawyers. "This same US lawyer asked the EFG private banker not to travel into the US with a computer and requested that they communicate about US taxpayer clients through faxes rather than email," the DoJ said.

According to the statement, the EFG private banker responded: " ight – next travel I travel will take no computer with me – I will then buy me one at BestBuy and leave it there for use when I am travelling. So I never will cary a computer over the border."