On Tuesday, French authorities raided five major raids were conducted against the banks. According to a spokesperson for the French Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF), preliminary raids against four French banks and one foreign bank began at the end of 2021.
The investigation centers on the Cum-Ex scheme, and Societe Generale has confirmed its involvement in the investigation
With the banking industry in crisis in the U.S. and abroad, French judicial authorities on Tuesdayraided the officesof several major banks, including HSBC, Societe Generale, BNP Paribas, Natixis, and Exene The PNF prosecutor’s office said the raids were based on money laundering and financial fraud, and noted that the raids were based on suspicion of financial fraud.
The PNF said in a statement that “the ongoing investigation has taken months of preparation and is being conducted by 16 investigative judges and over 150 investigators. The investigation is related to an alleged dividend arbitrage scheme known as the “cum-cum” or “cum-ex” practice. This practice involves the temporary splitting of dividends to avoid dividend taxes.
According to press reports, this practice is utilized by wealthy clients of the bank to avoid taxation on their dividend accounts.PNF also revealed that six German prosecutors are involved in the case.Prosecutors working with PNF have said that due to this alleged fraud, governments They believe they have suffered $108 billion in losses.According to areportby CNBC, Societe Generale is the only financial institution that has confirmed the raid on its offices. A Societe Generale spokespersontoldTelegraph that the bank is “part of the investigation.”
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