Swiss Court Holds Swiss Finma Ruling for UBS to Disclose Names Illegal

Bloomberg reports today that:

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, known as Finma, exceeded its authority when it told the bank [UBS] Feb. 18 to deliver the information to the U.S., the Federal Administrative Court in Bern ruled today.

This ruling deals only with the approximately 255 names delivered before the Swiss and the U.S. agreed upon an interpretation and application of the double tax treaty exchange of information provision that permitted the rolling turnover of about 4,450 names.  The validity of the larger treaty exchange has yet to be determined.

For the complete article see here.

Thanks to a commenter, Anonymous, for reporting this breaking news.  For Anonymous' comment and others related to whether the U.S. can or should use for criminal prosecution - and perhaps for civil tax purposes -- information illegally obtained from foreign sources, see here.

I will post updates to this blog as I obtain details.  Any significant developments may be presented in a separate blog.