According to the Financial Times, the SEC is to allege that dating back to 2012 the bank, at times, improperly counted client assets in the Americas as net new assets for the Swiss private bank.
Net new assets are viewed by investors as a measure of how the division is performing. By inflating the figures Credit Suisse could have mislead potential and current investors on its performance.
Senate subcommittee
The net new assets allegations were first publicly raised in February 2014 and dated back to transactions made in 2011 and 2012.
It was alleged during a US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations hearing in February 2014 that counting net new assets from the Americas enabled the Swiss private bank to report inflows of CHF100m (£66.3m, €92.2m, $100m), instead of CHF1.5bn in outflows.
At the time, Romeo Cerutti, general council, Credit Suisse Group, confirmed to the subcommittee that the bank was investigating claims that it made decisions on where to credit net new assets, particularly between Switzerland and the Americas region.
Negotiations between Credit Suisse and the SEC over potential civil charges are reportedly ongoing.
