In the eyes of UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti the motives behind the investigation against the Swiss No. 1 are political. It is a tad ironic then that the bank has changed tack and is trying to fight France with its own weapons.

Based on statements by Markus Diethelm, the UBS legal counsel, French newspaper «Les Echos» (behind paywall) concluded that the bank will use the political card in the fourth trial week.

France played a key role given the upheaval that the U.K. decision to leave the European Union caused, Diethelm said. «Everybody will look very closely at what happens to UBS,» he said.

Signal to the Markets?

Apart from Frankfurt, Paris has frequently been mentioned as a destination of choice for financial service providers that need to leave the city due to Brexit. Diethelm’s statement is an apparent attempt to suggest that France will endanger its status as a potential new banking hotspot if its treatment of UBS is judged to harshly.

This at least is what «Les Echos» made of it: Christine Mée, the presiding judge, was asked to choose between maintaining the good reputation of the French judiciary and boosting the attractiveness of Paris as a location for Brexit-banks.

Risky Game

Time will tell whether the implied threat by Diethelm will proof successful. The trial against UBS hasn’t yielded much in terms of clarity so far, with current and former representatives of the bank in France gunning at witnesses, depicting them as liars.

The legal counsel of the bank are playing a risky game of course, because the bank may end being liable to pay 5 billion euros in fines if found guilty by the French.

UBS says that the attorneys haven’t really presented proof of wrongdoing.