The proposed resolution of a US government demand for information about thousands of Americans thought to be using UBS accounts to dodge taxes will leave Swiss bank secrecy intact, according to a Swiss official quoted by the Washington Post.

Michael Ambuhl, Switzerland's secretary of state for foreign affairs, said the US has "promised … to ask for legal assistance again," in an interview with the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper quoted on the English-language web site of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation and confirmed by a spokeswoman for the Swiss embassy in Washington.

An agreement between the US and Swiss governments to resolve the UBS case, which has highlighted the friction between governments over offshore banking and secrecy, was announced late last week. An announcement is due to be made around 7 August.