A U.S. court ordered UBS Group AG to pay Credit Suisse Group AG $9 million to end a long-running case in which the latter accused the former of poaching staff from its U.S. private banking business, Bloomberg News reported.
The case goes back to 2015, when Credit Suisse pulled back from its U.S. wealth management operation. The bank reached a private agreement with Wells Fargo & Co. to give it the inside track on recruiting its private bankers. However, about 70 of the 300 relationship managers included in the agreement left for UBS, according to reports at the time.
The court did not provide reasons for the award, according to the Bloomberg report, but following the decision on Sept. 17 both sides sought to claim vindication. Credit Suisse said the court's award confirmed its view that "UBS engaged in serious misconduct," while UBS said it did not believe any award was justified and noted that Credit Suisse "received only a fraction of what it sought."
