By handing over the files of almost 300 clients to U.S. authorities last year, Switzerland's financial regulator broke bank secrecy laws, a Swiss court has ruled.
Last February, Swiss regulator Finma ordered UBS to identify some clients after U.S. investigators accused it of helping rich Americans to dodge taxes. The bank also agreed to pay a $780 million fine. In August, the bank then agreed to surrender the names of wealthy American clients the Internal Revenue Service suspected of tax evasion. Today's ruling does not affect that agreement,which USA TODAY's Kevin McCoy wrote about at the time.
