US, Switzerland settle UBS tax row out of court
03 Aug 2009
The United States has ended a legal battle with the government of Switzerland over tax evasion by US citizens and bank secrecy related to the US clients of Swiss banking major UBS.
The two governments are reported to have reached an out-of-court settlement in the litigation related to disclosure of client information by UBS.
"On 31 July 2009, the US government has informed the court in the John Doe Summons matter that the parties have reached an agreement in principle on the major issues and expect to resolve the remaining issues in the coming week," UBS said in a release.
"A status conference among the parties has been scheduled for 7 August 2009. At the request of the US and Swiss governments, we have agreed not to comment further at this time," the release added.
US Department of Justice had filed a case against UBS demanding information about 52,000 of the Swiss bank's American clients, in what could be a turning point in Swiss banking practices.
The settlement seems to have been reached after the official working visit to the USA of Swiss federal councilor Micheline Calmy-Rey where she held talks with US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday.