UBS has to give the Swiss government thousands of its clients' names requested by France, which hopes to claim taxes from citizens who chose to keep assets undeclared on Swiss accounts. But the Swiss bank has now been granted the right to appeal against the decisions by the authorities.
UBS, Switzerland's biggest bank, has been given the right to appeal against the delivery of client data to France by the Swiss federal administrative court, according to a report by «Tages-Anzeiger». The bank is party to the legal process and therefore has the right to vet the data and appeal against the transmission to France, according to the ruling made public today.
In a request for administrative assistance, France in May demanded information regarding accounts belonging to thousands of French citizens at UBS. The Swiss tax authorities didn't want to grant party status to UBS, a decision that the court has reversed with its ruling.
Threat to Reputation
The sheer number of files demanded by the French implies that the bank's reputation may be tarnished, the judges said. The data may also potentially be used in a court action against UBS in France, two reasons for why the bank had to be granted party status, according to the court.
The court did not rule on the admissibility of transmitting the documents to France and UBS will have to put together the files and hand it over to the Swiss tax authorities.
