UBS, under American pressure, is closing secret accounts...

Under pressure from the U.S. authorities, the Swiss bank UBS is closing the hidden offshore accounts of its well-heeled American clients, potentially allowing their secrets to spill into the open.

In a step that would have once been unthinkable in the rarefied world of Swiss banking, UBS will shut about 19,000 accounts that prosecutors suspect have gone undeclared to the Internal Revenue Service.

UBS will transfer the assets to other banks or other divisions within UBS, or will mail checks directly to the account holders, creating paper trails for U.S. prosecutors who are examining whether UBS clients used such accounts to evade taxes. More...

See also:

1. Britain: savers facing accounts with no interest?
2. The U.S. and the dark side of the UBS...
3. U.S. super-rich and Swiss bank UBS in murky waters...