Swiss bank Credit Suisse is being investigated by the US Department of Justice as part of a broader inquiry into banks suspected of helping Americans evade taxes.

The investigation concerns historical private banking services provided on a cross-border basis to people in the United States, Credit Suisse said today, adding the bank had received a letter notifying it that it was being investigated yesterday.

In 2009, Credit Suisse's local rival UBS AG averted indictment over its undeclared offshore private banking services by agreeing to pay $780 million, admitting to criminal wrongdoing and turning over about 255 client names, later raised by the two sides to an additional 4,450.

"Subject to our Swiss legal obligations, we will continue to cooperate with the US authorities in an effort to resolve these matters," Credit Suisse said in a statement.

The DoJ has been conducting a broad investigation into a number of Swiss banks, bankers, and third-party intermediaries to determine if they have helped wealthy American clients dodge taxes.

Companies involved in that probe include Credit Suisse, the second-largest bank in Switzerland; HSBC, Europe's largest bank; Julius Baer, a private bank based in Zurich; and Basler Kantonalbank, a Swiss cantonal bank in Basel, Switzerland.

At a June conference in Washington organised by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the US Internal Revenue Service's Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement Steven Miller said it planned to move against "one or more banks in the next month or so".

Credit Suisse said in the statement that as previously disclosed, it had been responding to requests for information, including subpoenas, from the DoJ.

Switzerland and the United States have been in talks to try to reach a multibillion-dollar deal over Swiss banks helping Americans to shield their money from the US taxman.

Reuters