ETUDES FISCALES INTERNATIONALES

To all employees

Dear colleagues, As we have communicated, we've already appealed today's decision which, under French law, effectively suspends both the judgment of the trial court as well as payment of any associated penalties. The case will now be transferred to the Court of Appeals which will hear the trial again in full. This process is expected to take several years. Our position going into and throughout the trial has been that the charges laid against us have no foundation in evidence, and as per our current view no new evidence in support of these charges was presented in today's judgment, which amounted to a mere 38 pages of justification. The superficial nature of the verdict is astounding and does not even pretend to address the arguments we presented during the five weeks of the trial. This will need to be covered by the appeals court. I expect, as you may have seen in the immediate wake of the verdict, that this afternoon's events will continue to generate high media interest. For legal and regulatory reasons it may not always be possible for us to comment immediately on developments in the case. But we will do so as quickly and strongly as possibly through the appropriate channels. At the moment I have nothing to add to what I have previously said or to our press release, which in each sentence well represents our position on the situation. We have consistently contested any criminal wrongdoing in this matter, and we will continue to do so throughout the appeals process. In the meantime, it's important that we continue to stay focused on serving our clients. This afternoon's verdict, while unprecedented, is not final. Despite the outcome today, I continue to believe that in the end justice will prevail. Thank you, Sergio Jean-Raphaël Fontannaz +41 79 250 90 29