Swiss Raiffeisen group pays no penalty in talks with U.S. DOJ

ZURICH, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Swiss cooperative banking group Raiffeisen has wrapped up talks with U.S. justice officials on whether it helped wealthy Americans dodge taxes and does not have to pay a fine, it said on Friday.

Raiffeisen, Switzerland's third-biggest bank, three years ago decided to qualify itself as one of the Swiss financial institutions that had not committed any offenses under U.S. tax law. An accord with the U.S. Department of Justice this week "creates legal certainty and ends the tax conflict without payment of a penalty", it said in a statement.

(Reporting by Michael Shields)