Swiss Bank Ordered to Hand Over French Clients’ Data Amid Fraud Allegations

Zurich-based bank UBS received a disclosure order from the Swiss Federal Tax Administration to transfer information based on a French request for international administrative assistance in tax matters.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Swiss tax authorities have ordered the Zurich-based bank UBS to hand over tax information on French clients to France, the bank said Tuesday.

"UBS has received a disclosure order from the Swiss Federal Tax Administration ("FTA") to transfer information based on a French request for international administrative assistance in tax matters. The request concerns a number of UBS account numbers pertaining to current and former French domiciled clients and is based on data from 2006 and 2008," the bank said in a press release.

The request is based on data the FTA received from the German authorities who have been conducting tax-related investigations in recent years. France has been probing UBS on suspicion of helping its clients dodge taxes.

The Swiss bank said it had expressed concerns to Switzerland over the order’s lawfulness, saying that legal grounds for the request were "ambiguous at best." UBS warned it was going to inform affected clients about the proceedings and their right to appeal.