ZURICH, Oct 14 (Reuters) - A group of campaigners wants

UBS to lose its exemption from U.S. regulations that

allows the Swiss bank to operate in the American pension market

despite breaking banking rules, Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported on

Monday.

The U.S. Department of Labor is considering an application

from UBS that would extend its exemption to operate in the

world's largest with $30 trillion of assets under management,

the newspaper said.

Under U.S. rules, banks that have been convicted of criminal

offences or punished by supervisory authorities are not allowed

to manage the pension assets of American employees.

A group of activists is now lobbying the Department of Labor

to end the Swiss bank's exemption, the paper said, highlighting

how UBS has paid around $20 billion in penalties for nearly 100

offences between 2000 and 2023.

UBS's lawyers told the newspaper that the problems were

caused by individual staff. The bank has submitted a 500 page

application to extend the exemption, which expired in June.

"We have filed our application and are expecting a decision

soon," a bank spokesperson told Reuters.

James Henry, who has worked for Tax Justice Network - a

group that campaigns against tax havens - said banks often did

not feel the consequences of their actions, despite high

penalties.

"Criminal transactions are desirable because they are

lucrative, they generate more money than the penalties cost, and

none of those responsible has to go to prison," Henry told the

newspaper.

In recent years UBS has been convicted in France of helping

wealthy clients evade taxes, resulting in a 4.5 billion euro

($4.9 billion) fine, reduced on appeal to 1.8 billion euros.

UBS was also among ten banks that agreed to pay $46 million

in June to settle a long running antitrust lawsuit accusing them

of conspiring to rig the interest rate swap market.

It has also inherited legal cases connected to Credit

Suisse, following its emergency takeover of Switzerland's second

biggest lender last year.

($1 = 0.9147 euros)