Wall Street banks have been drawn into an expanding series of French tax audits that has so far mainly focused on local banks’ involvement in trades allegedly designed to escape dues on dividend payments, according to people familiar with the matter.
As part of their wider-ranging audits French tax officials are now questioning some overseas lenders with significant trading floors in Paris in a bid to learn more about the so-called Cum-Cum transactions, the people said. Those include Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp., they added, asking not to be identified because the proceedings are confidential.