Switzerland and the United States have ended the legal battle involving UBS, but the potential cost to banking secrecy is unknown until details of the deal are released. Lawyers told a Miami judge that an agreement to release UBS client data to the US tax authorities had been reached and that the threatened trial would be halted when it receives the final signatures. UBS is a clear winner having avoided a potentially disastrous court case to determine whether it had to hand over the confidential details of 52,000 clients. Shares rose more than three per cent on the day after the news broke. However, many people in the Swiss financial sector will be biting their nails over the next few days until the full extent of Swiss concessions has been revealed. The Swiss Bankers Association gave a guarded welcome to the announcement of an agreement being reached. "We expect that the Swiss legal process will be maintained by the deal," said spokesman Thomas Sutter. Kaspar Villiger, chairman of the UBS board, said in a statement: "The board of directors and the management of UBS are grateful that the two governments reached this agreement to resolve this issue, and we thank the Swiss government and the Swiss delegation that negotiated this settlement for their outstanding efforts." Swiss Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said she was "pleased to see that a compromise solution has been found. This is in the interest of Switzerland and the United States". In a similar vein, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) welcomed the agreement saying it "protects the United States government's interests". (swissinfo)