UBS has made mistakes and will likely have to pay a price to settle the US government's tax case against it, Switzerland's domestic economy minister said yesterday, according to Reuters.

The Swiss government is trying to halt the US lawsuit and is taking its case to a top official in the US administration.

The US government is suing UBS in a civil suit, seeking to force the bank to identify an estimated 52,000 Americans suspected of using secret foreign accounts to hide nearly $15 billion in assets and avoid taxes. However, a report yesterday suggested that US government investigations found that far fewer than the 52,000 accounts were  involved.

In February UBS paid $780 million to settle a US government criminal probe and acknowledged that some of its employees had helped US clients hide money and avoid US taxes.

UBS has resisted the request to release client names, saying this would violate Swiss bank secrecy laws.

Doris Leuthard, head of the Swiss federal department of economic affairs, said UBS will need to "pay a price" for any deal with Washington.

"They have made mistakes. It's obvious it will cost them something," Ms Leuthard said.

She was to meet later Tuesday with the head of President Barack Obama's Council of Economic Advisors, Christina Romer.