Credit Suisse freezing accounts to look for US assets

Newark, New Jersey

CREDIT Suisse Group AG has frozen dozens of accounts as it tries to determine if US clients are hiding money from the Internal Revenue Service after the firm pledged to come clean about secret assets, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The bank is looking at indicators such as phone numbers or powers of attorney to determine whether Americans are the true owners of accounts not disclosed to the IRS, according to the person, who wasn't authorised to speak publicly about the matter. Any client activity on these accounts now requires approval by a group within Credit Suisse, the person said.