Ethics and governance in the European Financial centers

Associated Press has reported that Swiss banking giant UBS AG agreed today to turn over to the IRS the details of 4,450 accounts suspected of holding undeclared assets by American customers, ending an intense trans-Atlantic legal fight. UBS had feared that it might be forced to hand over as many as 52,000 clients.

In return, US authorities are to abandon their lawsuit against UBS in the US.

Despite the agreement is for only 8.5% of the target, it is a turmoil for banking secrecy.

The deal will give the Internal Revenue Service thousands of long-sought account names, and is expected to provide even more UBS clients who voluntarily disclose their financial details. UBS's American customers have until September 23 to confess to the IRS about offshore bank accounts

"This issue is not going away, and people hiding assets and income offshore will find themselves increasingly at risk due to our efforts in this area," IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said.