UBS Is Fined $4.2B in French Tax-Evasion Case • Hacker News Board

Re: UBS Is Fined $4.2B in French Tax-Evasion Case

#71

Post by brianpgordon » Fri, Feb 22, 2019, 2:36 PM UTC

mruts wrote: post #53

brianpgordon wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like your back-of-the-envelope estimate is assuming that the market values UBS at exactly its assets minus its liabilities. This disregards goodwill, which (someone correct me if I'm wrong) includes expectations of future earnings. That number wouldn't even be affected in a straightforward way since banks, especially European banks, tend to be levered quite a bit in order to survive on interest income.

Goodwill is often counted as an asset (or a liability if they don’t want to pay taxes) on the company’s book. I’m not sure if UBS included it on theirs, though

I believe that's just after an acquisition. Shares trading on the secondary market shouldn't really affect the company's balance sheet.

Re: UBS Is Fined $4.2B in French Tax-Evasion Case

#72

Post by chrisbennet » Fri, Feb 22, 2019, 9:17 PM UTC

sailingparrot wrote: post #65

misiti3780 wrote: post #6

Another slap on the wrist. No one goes to jail because of Deferred Prosecution Agreements HSBC got fined about half that when they caught laundering money for the Mexican cartels a few years back. True story: HSBC had to design special teller windows because the standard ones were too small to fit the sacks of money that were being brought in and laundered. If you want to know why these guys don't go to jail, pull up…

This comments comes back on every single case like that no matter what the amount is, it's almost a cliché now. Sure prison would be nice, but 4.8 billion dollar is very far from "a slap on the wrist", it it more than half of their yearly operating income worldwide.

It is not a deterrent though - they key doing it again and again. Right now employees aren’t punished (really) and the bank takes all the risk so why wouldn’t they do whatever they can get away with?

Re: UBS Is Fined $4.2B in French Tax-Evasion Case

#73

Post by missedthecue » Sat, Feb 23, 2019, 7:42 PM UTC

Shaanie wrote: post #31

missedthecue wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HSBC allegedly laundered (not revenue, not profit, they laundered ) $880 million. They were fined $1.9 billion. Not "fined about half"

Not sure if you need the "allegedly" when they admitted to the laundering.

The terms of the agreement was a fine without an admission of guilt. So in the interest of jurisprudence, allegedly is the correct word to use in this situation.