19 May 2014
Last updated at 19:48 ET
It is the biggest bank to plead guilty to criminal charges in the US in more than 20 years.
US attorney general Eric Holder said the bank helped US "tax cheats dodge US taxes".
Credit Suisse said in a statement it deeply regretted the past misconduct.
The bank said the settlement would reduce its second-quarter net profit by 1.6bn Swiss Francs ($1.8bn; £1bn).
However, as part of the agreement with US regulators, the bank will not lose its banking license in the US.
Credit Suisse pleads guilty to helping 'tax cheats'
Credit Suisse pleads guilty - a rarity in big bank settlements in the US
The
Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse has pleaded guilty to helping some US
clients avoid paying taxes to the US government and agreed to pay a
$2.6bn (£1.5bn) fine.
US attorney general Eric Holder said the bank helped US "tax cheats dodge US taxes".
Credit Suisse said in a statement it deeply regretted the past misconduct.
The bank said the settlement would reduce its second-quarter net profit by 1.6bn Swiss Francs ($1.8bn; £1bn).
However, as part of the agreement with US regulators, the bank will not lose its banking license in the US.
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The outcome is considered a victory for the US Justice
Department which has been trying to clamp down for some time now on
banks that have aided rich Americans in avoiding paying taxes here in
the US.
UBS had been fined in the past but nowhere near as much as Credit Suisse.
Questions have been asked, ever since the end of the financial crisis, about why banks have not faced harsher penalties as a result of the calamity and catastrophe that many feel they were responsible for.
Earlier in May , perhaps as an indication of the thinking of US authorities, US attorney general Eric Holder said there's no such thing as a bank that's too big to jail.
'Elaborate lengths'Analysis
UBS had been fined in the past but nowhere near as much as Credit Suisse.
Questions have been asked, ever since the end of the financial crisis, about why banks have not faced harsher penalties as a result of the calamity and catastrophe that many feel they were responsible for.
Earlier in May , perhaps as an indication of the thinking of US authorities, US attorney general Eric Holder said there's no such thing as a bank that's too big to jail.
"The bank went to elaborate lengths to
shield itself, its employees, and the tax cheats it served from
accountability for their criminal actions," said Mr Holder at a press
conference.
Mr Holder said the tax evasion schemes went back decades, saying that in one Credit Suisse entity, the practice of using sham entities began more than 100 years ago.
However, according to US media reports, neither Credit Suisse chairman Urs Rohner nor chief executive Brady Dougan are expected to lose their jobs as a result of the agreement.
US authorities have already indicted eight Credit Suisse employees who helped clients evade taxes.
Credit Suisse is not alone. US prosecutors are chasing more than a dozen other Swiss banks for allegedly helping wealthy Americans dodge US taxes, and at the press conference, they hinted that there would be more settlements to come.
In 2009, another Swiss bank, UBS, settled similar charges with US regulators for $780m as well as an agreement in which the bank would give US authorities the names of its so-called "secret" account holders.
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