CS Credit Suisse Group

By Brian Blackstone 

ZURICH-- Credit Suisse Group AG offices in three European countries were targeted by authorities in a tax investigation, a fresh headache for the Swiss lender just months after it agreed to pay billions of dollars to resolve a major legal case with the U.S.

The bank said on Friday that local authorities were in contact with its offices in London, Paris and Amsterdam. The Dutch financial-fraud prosecutor said it is investigating dozens of people and had seized jewlery, artwork and a gold bar from homes in the Netherlands as part of its probe. It didn't specify any bank as part of the investigation.

Credit Suisse didn't provide details of the nature of the contact, though the bank said in a statement that it "continues to follow a strategy of full client tax compliance."

In the Dutch investigation, the prosecutor for financial fraud, FIOD, said it is investigating dozens of people who are "alleged to have concealed many millions of euros from the authorities by placing them in Swiss bank accounts." Investigations are also going on in Australia, Germany, the U.K. and France. It said it has acquired information about thousands of account holders and more operations would be carried out in the weeks ahead.

The action angered Swiss authorities,

who weren't consulted. The attorney general's office said it is "concerned that Switzerland was specifically excluded when this operation was organized" and that it "expects a written explanation from the responsible Dutch authorities, and is considering what further action needs to be taken."

Meanwhile, the U.K. tax authority, HM Revenue and Customs, said it opened a criminal investigation, jointly with other countries, into "suspected tax evasion and money laundering by a global financial institution and certain of its employees." The HMRC also didn't name the bank.

The HMRC said the probe will spur "further, targeted, activity over the coming weeks" and is focused on "senior employees from within the institution, along with a number of its customers."

The sums involved in the investigations don't appear large. In a statement Friday, the European Union's Judicial Cooperation Unit pegged hidden, undeclared assets under investigation as being "in the millions of euros."

Credit Suisse's disclosure Friday was a reminder that the Swiss lender still faces legal uncertainties after dealing with costly regulatory actions in recent years. In December, the bank reached a settlement worth roughly $5.3 billion with the U.S. Justice Department over toxic mortgage securities sold before the financial crisis.

In 2014, Credit Suisse admitted it conspired to aid tax evasion and agreed to pay $2.6 billion to settle a long-running probe by the U.S. Justice Department.

The Swiss bank, which has been shifting its focus away from trading to focus more on wealth management, also faces an investigation into whether its Israel desk helped clients cancel U.S. tax obligations.

Jenny Strasburg in London contributed to this article.

Write to Brian Blackstone at brian.blackstone@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 31, 2017 12:37 ET (16:37 GMT)

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