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Swiss bank UBS AG said Friday that it will disclose any instances in which rich American clients may have broken U.S. tax reporting rules by channeling assets through offshore shell companies.

The disclosure comes after the Zurich-based bank said it was cooperating with a U.S. investigation into whether its employees helped clients evade taxes from 2000 to 2007.

The investigation centers on 20,000 UBS clients in the United States who are required to fill out a supplementary tax form giving foreign banks their American tax identification number if they hold any U.S. securities in their accounts abroad.

"A fraction" of those customers are being investigated for possibly breaching the rules by using offshore companies to hold U.S. assets without filling in the supplementary form, known as W-9, UBS spokesman Serge Steiner said.

UBS said in a statement that it is working with Swiss and U.S. authorities to "promptly provide information concerning instances in which the establishment and operation of such offshore entities and their UBS securities accounts appears to have been part of a scheme to defraud U.S. tax authorities."

"UBS is treating these investigations with the utmost seriousness and will appropriately and responsibly address and correct any issues raised in the investigations, including taking appropriate disciplinary action," it added.

Ongoing investigation: UBS disclosed in May that the U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether the bank was helping clients evade taxes from 2000 to 2007. The bank said at the time it was cooperating with the investigation and a separate probe into whether its bankers failed to meet registration rules set by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Swiss law prevents banks from divulging the names and details of their clients except in cases of outright tax fraud. Tax evasion or non-reporting is not considered sufficient grounds for the Swiss government to aid another government’s investigation.

Last week U.S direct payday loan cash advance. authorities sent a request for legal assistance to their Swiss counterparts to lift the anonymity of certain clients.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Justice Ministry in Bern confirmed media reports that a Swiss government delegation is to meet with U.S. federal authorities in the United States on Friday to discuss the case against UBS.

The U.S. investigation has already affected the Swiss bank’s operations in the United States, where it manages some $710 billion for American clients.

Last November UBS told some private banking clients they would in future have to travel to Switzerland if they want to speak with their advisers. Swiss media have reported that UBS was concerned its employees could face arrest if they travel to the United States. The bank has declined to comment on the reports, but acknowledged that a senior UBS manager was detained in the United States last month as a material witness in a case being heard in Florida.

The case concerns a former UBS executive, Bradley Birkenfeld, who pleaded guilty before a federal court in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday to helping clients hide hundreds of millions of dollars and evade U.S. taxes.

The case against Birkenfeld is seen as key to the Justice Department and SEC investigations.

Documents released in that case said that at one point Birkenfeld purchased diamonds using one client’s Swiss bank account and smuggled the diamonds into the United States in a toothpaste tube.

UBS declined to comment on the case, but spokesman Steiner said the bank’s policy categorically forbids employees from carrying cash or valuables for clients.

Shares in UBS (UBS) fell 4% to $22.11 in trading in Zurich. 

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