1.   But some lawmakers who also testified accused the banks of gouging customers.

2.   Among other claims, the suit accuses the bank of fraud and breach of fiduciary responsibility.

3.   At the same time, Swiss banks have been accused of sheltering ill-gotten assets of international criminals and the Nazi regime.

4.   Bankers Trust has been the subject of controversy following some bad derivatives deals that caused some customers to sue and various government agencies to accuse the bank of fraud.

5.   Additionally, Israeli banks have been accused by independent auditors of miscalculating and inflating the amount of money owed them by collective farms, called kibbutzim.

6.   But the move immediately produced a firestorm of criticism from economists, who accused the bank of being contradictory and slow to respond.

7.   Critics accuse the bank of doling out lavish corporate welfare to rich multinationals such as Boeing Co., Bechtel Corp., Caterpillar and General Electric.

8.   Critics have accused the banks of applying much more stringent loan requirements to small borrowers while failing to scrutinize huge loan requests from large corporations.

9.   Heirs and Holocaust survivors accused the banks of obstructing efforts to locate the accounts.