Israel’s Bank Leumi is reportedly close to a deal with US Justice Department and may agree to pay nearly ILS1 billion (US$289 million) to settle a investigation into whether it helped Americans evade taxes.
According to Reuters, the settlement is likely to take weeks or months to complete.
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Leumi would be the first Israeli bank to settle a tax probe with the US Justice Department.
Last month, Swiss bank Credit Suisse agreed to pay more than US$2.5 billion in penalties to settle similar case.
Leumi, which had already set aside ILS490 million shekels, would increase this by ILS460 million to make a total of ILS950 million, according to the Reuters report.
The bank will record this charge in the second quarter which would significantly impact quarterly results, it said.
"In order to settle all the issues related to the US customers matter, the bank continues to hold discussions with additional relevant U.S authorities," the publication quoted the bank as saying.
