Santander next bank in line in German tax evasion probe

Spanish bank Santander is the latest bank to come under scrutiny from German prosecutors' probe into alleged tax evasion practices which may have cost the government around €10bn.

The bank said on Thursday it would cooperate with the probe and started its own internal investigation to look into the allegations.

The alleged evasion took place through an arbitrage strategy known as "cum/ex" or "dividend stripping," which allows investors to exploit legal loopholes to enable multiple parties to claim a refund on taxes using shares that pay dividends.

"Our current understanding is that the primary focus of the investigation relates to certain activities extending from 2007 to 2011 of three former employees who left our group a number of years ago,” Santander said. “To date we have not identified any evidence that the activities under investigation involved senior management or that any of Santander’s or its subsidiaries’ governing bodies were aware of these activities."

Sweden’s SEB AB, Australian Macquarie Bank, German MM Warburg & Co and Deutsche Bank were among the other banks included in the investigation that was opened in June