The banking groups have set a figure on the final price to be paid for BSI, a unit that has been beset by legal woes.

Switzerland's EFG International and Brazil's BTG Pactual have agreed on the final price to be paid by the former for BSI Bank because the value of the original deal declined due to the legal woes of BSI in connection with Malaysia-linked legal woes.

EFG said the price it is paying for BSI is worth SFr971 million francs ($1.01 billion), as opposed to the estimated SFr1.06 billion set in October 2016. That price had already been originally reduced from the level when the deal was first announced in February last year.

The acquisition by EFG International of the BSI business had been affected by BSI's legal problems that arose when BSI's Singaporean business was ordered to be shut down by Singapore authorities in May last year year. BSI in Singapore, along with the Singapore business of Falcon Private Bank, were both ordered to shut down by the Monetary Authority of Singapore because of money laundering control lapses linked to Malaysian illicit money flows.

A number of banks have fallen foul of regulators because of the Malaysian saga, which concerns transactions linked to the state-backed fund, 1MDB. It is claimed that politicians in Malaysia siphoned money from the fund, laundering money via a number of banks. (To view a recent story about the matter, see here.)

EFG International completed the legal integration of BSI's Swiss business in April this year.