According to recent reports from The New York Times, and Switzerland's NZZ and Sonntag, as per last week's 'landmark' agreement between the US and Switzerland, the Swiss bank UBS will likely hand over the details of nearly 5,000 holders of secret Swiss accounts to the IRS tax authority in US.

In its August 14 story, the New York Times revealed that the information about the number of disclosures had come forth from a Washington, DC lawyer and ex-Justice Department official, who otherwise did not elucidate how he had arrived at the mentioned figure.

The deal would end the ongoing row between the two countries, whereby the US tax authorities had gone to court against the UBS regarding exposé of 52,000 US clients suspected of tax evasion. Moreover, the agreement reportedly also does not officially hamper Switzerland's prized banking secrecy.

The Sonntag story says that that the deal does not necessitate any changes to Swiss law, as it is based on the current US-Swiss double taxation agreement of 1996 - as such, the Swiss cabinet will be able to execute the deal directly, without the Parliament's intervention.

Nonetheless, Konrad Hummler - partner in Swiss private bank Wegelin - opined that Swiss banks would surely suffer from further disclosure of customer data by UBS, despite claims that the formal terms breach neither banking secrecy nor the Swiss law!