Financial Transparency Coalition

ZURICH (Dow Jones)--UBS AG (UBS) was again at the center of relations between Switzerland and the U.S. Tuesday as the two countries launched talks aimed at agreeing a double-tax treaty which experts say could have implications for the Swiss bank's ongoing legal battle with the Internal Revenue Service.

Switzerland's largest bank, UBS, has proposed giving United States tax authorities banking data on some of its clients but with no names or account numbers attached.

Aid organisations from countries currently defending banking secrecy laws say their governments need to change course in the interest of helping developing nations.

Life might have rocked along pleasantly enough for Steven Michael Rubinstein, his $3 million home and his fat Swiss bank account if UBS AG hadn’t courted customers like him with such zeal.