The Swiss government said Wednesday that it would let its banks sidestep the country’s secrecy laws so they can disclose names of clients in a move that would help resolve a long-running dispute between the United States and Switzerland over tax evasion.
The decision is a turning point in what has been an escalating conflict between the two countries. Switzerland’s finance minister said the move would probably enable Swiss banks to accept an offer by the United States government to hand over client details in exchange for a promise against future legal repercussions.
‘‘It is important for us to be able to let the past be the past,’’ Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, said at a news briefing in Bern, Switzerland. She declined to give any details about the program but said banks will have one year to decide whether to accept the American offer.
The U.S.-Swiss dispute has involved about a dozen Swiss and Swiss-style banks that allowed tens of thousands of wealthy Americans to evade federal taxes through offshore private banking services. These banks have been the target of American prosecutors. But until now, the Swiss government had been resisting cooperation because it prized the secrecy of its banking system, which has long made Switzerland a money haven for wealthy foreigners.
But in recent years it has become increasingly obvious that the costs to Switzerland as a banking center might be higher in failing to come to an agreement with the United States, if Swiss banks to continue to be target of investigations and fines.
Ms. Widmer-Schlumpf said Wednesday the government would work with Parliament to quickly pass a new law that would allow Swiss banks to accept the terms of the U.S. disclosure program for one year and thereby allow banks to release client information. She said the new law would make it possible for banks to take part in the program, but that it would be up to each individual bank whether to participate.
‘‘We expect this to create the base for banks to again gain some room for maneuver so that calm can return to the sector,’’ Ms. Widmer-Schlumpf said. ‘‘We are convinced that this is a good, a pragmatic solution for the banks to emerge from their past.’’
Ms. Widmer-Schlumpf declined to say how much banks might have to pay. But she said the Swiss government would not make any payments as part of the agreement.
