AFP — A French appeals court on Monday levied 1.8 billion euros ($2 billion) in penalties on Swiss bank UBS for its role in helping French residents commit tax fraud.

UBS took the fight to the Paris appeals court after being initially hit with 4.5 billion euros in fines and damages in a 2019 ruling, France’s biggest-ever tax evasion penalty.

The appeals court found UBS guilty of concealing serious tax fraud and illegal banking activities in France between 2004 and 2012, when it was sending Swiss bankers to court well-heeled French clients.

The penalties are only marginally below the two billion euros that French prosecutors had requested on appeal.

Shares in UBS rose after the ruling was handed down, peaking with a gain of 2.9 percent from Friday’s close. They ended the day down 0.36 percent, however.

According to prosecutor Muriel Fusina, UBS was “gathering large amounts (of money) by offering efficient wealth management, but also concealing that wealth, or part of it, from the French taxman” between 2004 and 2012.

That was when former employees came forward with allegations of unlawful conduct and French authorities launched what turned out to be a seven-year investigation.

French prosecutors said almost 10 billion euros were shielded from the eyes of their tax officials over that eight-year period ending in 2012.

Since then, Switzerland’s once-renowned banking secrecy has become more transparent with the introduction of automatic financial data-sharing between countries from 2018.

“The ruling is difficult to understand,” said UBS’s lawyer, Herve Temime. “It’s a ruling that is 2.7 billion less … than the trial court”, but “in principle it is a conviction, so we will consider if we’ll appeal further.”

UBS later said in a statement it “will review the decision and consider all options, including appeal”.

Four of six UBS bankers who also faced charges were handed down suspended jail sentences of up to one year and 300,000-euro fines, which were mostly less than what was handed down by the trial court which convicted five of them.

The French subsidiary of UBS was fined 1.875 million euros for complicity in illegal banking activities, compared to the 15 million-euro fine handed down by the trial court. It was cleared of conspiracy in aggravated fraud.

UBS was accused of organising or inviting prospective clients to prestigious outings such as the French Open or luxury hunting retreats, where bankers would meet their “prospects” — something they were not allowed to do under French law.

UBS France directors then used notes called “milk tickets” to keep track of how many “milk cans” — amounts of money — were transferred to Swiss accounts.

Only one “milk ticket” was found during the inquiry, but prosecutors pointed to the roughly 3,700 French UBS clients who took advantage of an amnesty to regularise their tax declarations with the French authorities.

Monday’s ruling reduced the original fine of 3.7 billion euros to just 3.75 million euros. However, it ordered the confiscation of the 1 billion euro caution that UBS had to advance and left unchanged the award of 800 million euros in damages to the French state.

UBS noted that an appeal would only suspend the payment of the fine, whereas the payment of the damages is due upon request by the French state.