A Senate report this week hammered European banking giant Credit Suisse for its role in helping American clients hide about $12 billion in assets in Swiss tax shelters, causing the bank’s stock to drop precipitously.

But investors may not have too much to worry about. Although committee members from both parties grilled two of the bank’s executives at a hearing Wednesday, Credit Suisse is actually on quite good terms with a number of them — and is an all-around big spender in town.

According to an OpenSecrets.org analysis, Credit Suisse’s corporate PAC and employees have given the 14 members of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations about $409,738 through the years. Every member has received at least one campaign or leadership PAC donation from the company’s PAC or employees (or both). The amounts range widely, from the $250 that Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) has received to Sen. John McCain ‘s (R-Ariz.) $266,000, including money given for his presidential campaign in 2008.

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So far in the 2014 cycle, the bank and its employees have given to three members of the committee — Democrats Jon Tester (Mont.) and Tom Carper (Del.) and Republican Kelly Ayotte (N.H.). Carper in particular has been a favorite of the bank and its employees. His leadership PAC, First State PAC , has collected more than $45,000 in donations from the bank’s PAC — $10,000 every two years, going back to 2008, and $5,000 in the 2004 cycle and the same in 2006.

This isn’t necessarily a sign that Credit Suisse has a strategy to target this particular committee; the company’s PAC and its employees give a lot of money to many members of Congress. Since 1990, the bank’s PAC and employees have accounted for $17.1 million in donations, including more than $2.6 million in the 2012 cycle (the most ever for a two-year period was $2.7 million in 2008).

And the money has been spread around. Overall, OpenSecrets.org analysis shows that, over time, 58 percent of Credit Suisse’s contributions that were given to candidates or party organizations went to the GOP. But at times, the donations have heavily favored Democrats — as they did in 2008.

So far in the 2014 cycle, Credit Suisse’s PAC has given money to 92 members of Congress (73 from the House and 19 senators) with an average contribution of around $3,000. Democrats as a whole have picked up $137,950 and Republicans have gotten $162,000. Like other corporate PACs, this one overwhelmingly favors incumbents; they have reeled in $279,800, compared to just $20,400 for challengers.

And it’s not just through contributions that Credit Suisse announces its presence in Washington. In 2013, the bank spent $1.6 million on lobbying . According to lobbying disclosure reports filed by the bank and the firms it hired, “international tax issues” were a heavy focus of the bank’s K Street efforts. Seems fitting.

Image: Credit Suisse Group CEO Brady Dougan testifies on Feb. 26, 2014 before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, at a hearing on overseas tax shelters. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)



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