"We would like to provide some reassurance and state some of the facts that lie behind the stories. The media focus has been on historical events that show the standards to which we operate today were not universally in place in our Swiss operations eight years ago.
We must show we understand that the societies we serve expect more from us. We therefore offer our sincerest apologies.
The media has been mentioning a number of 100,000 clients. At its peak, the Swiss private bank had about 30,000 accounts.
We have absolutely no appetite to do business with clients who are evading their taxes or who fail to meet our financial crime compliance standards."
According to media reports last week, based on files from the SwissLeaks investigation, the bank's Swiss operations enabled clients from over 200 countries to evade tax on $118 billion of assets held in Swiss accounts.