PARIS (Reuters) – Crédit Agricole CIB, the Crédit Agricole SA financing and investment bank is about to settle a criminal investigation by agreeing to pay a fine concerning dividends arbitration operations, a source close to the file in Reuters said, confirming information from Radio France.
The French financial prosecutor’s office (PNF) is due to present a fine project on Monday to a Parisian judge who will decide whether or not to approve the agreement, the person said.
A spokesperson for the prosecution confirmed that an audience to examine a draft settlement with Crédit Agricole CIB will take place on Monday, without specifying, however, whether it is fraud to arbitration of dividends, also called ‘Cumcum’.
The French bank may, against the payment of a fine and the commitment to take compliance measures, compromise with the prosecution to avoid a trial.
In 2023, French investigators had searched the offices of five banks, including BNP Paribas, Société Générale or Natixis, as part of a large investigation on the subject.
This fraud consists for a foreign shareholder on a company listed in France to temporarily transfer, around the date of payment of the dividend, the securities he holds to a French banking establishment, in order to avoid the payment of the restraint at the source applied to the payment of this dividend.
(written by Mathieu Rosemain; Bertrand de Meyer, edited by Kate Entringer)
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