UBS to fight US demand for bank account details in tax dispute

UBS has tried to reassert the primacy of Swiss banking secrecy by launching a bitter attack on demands from the US fiscal authorities to disclose the names of more than 50,000 of its US customers, The Guardian reported.

Overnight the US department of justice shot down any hopes UBS may harbour that it has settled its long-running tax fraud case by presenting the demand for more names, the newspaper said.

This came just 24 hours after UBS struck a deal to hand over $780m (£547m) and admitted breaking American law by participating in a scheme to defraud the US internal revenue service.

The DoJ now accuses the bank of aiding 52,000 customers to hide accounts from the federal authorities, The Guardian said. That is more than twice as many as the 20,000 customers previously identified as having sham offshore accounts.

'At a time when millions of Americans are losing their jobs, their homes and their health care, it is appalling that more than 50,000 of the wealthiest among us have actively sought to evade their civic and legal duty to pay taxes,' said John DiCicco, acting assistant attorney general in the DoJ's tax division, in a statement given toThe Guardian.

UBS said it would 'vigorously contest' the 'John Doe' civil action taken out in Florida against unnamed persons. The Swiss financial services authority, Finma, agreed to hand over some 300 client names in the Wednesday settlement.

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UBS vows to fight demand for more names in tax case