Swiss bank makes $60M deal with US over hidden accounts

Federal prosecutors say a Swiss bank has reached an agreement to pay more than $60 million to the U.S. and provide information to investigators about concealed accounts Americans used to avoid taxes.

The Miami U.S. attorney's office said in a news release Tuesday that Basler Kantonalbank will pay restitution to the Internal Revenue Service, a fine to the U.S. government and forfeit fees the bank earned from undeclared accounts from 2002 to 2012.

The deferred prosecution agreement signed by bank lawyers says that at its peak, the bank had 1,144 accounts for U.S. customers with a total value of more than $813 million.

Prosecutors say Basler Kantonalbank saw an opportunity when Swiss bank UBS AG came under investigation for similar conduct. That bank also made a deal with U.S. officials.