The data theft crisis between Switzerland and France has come to an end, the Swiss finance minister said after a meeting with Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Hans-Rudolf Merz, the Swiss finance minister, said – in the presence of Christine Lagarde, the French economic minister – that the scandal about client data stolen from HSBC Private Bank in Geneva and bought by the French government was over, according to awp Finanznachrichten, a Swiss news agency.

The theft had led to a massive diplomatic row, after the French government used the data stolen by a former employee to take action against tax evaders. Bern quickly demanded the return of the data, and theFederal Council even decided to halt talks on the ratification of a revised double taxation agreement with its neighbour state. A week ago, the data was returned to Switzerland.

“We have been promised that Paris will not ask for administrative assistance in cases relating to this data,” awp quotes Mr Merz. He added that, if Paris were to ask for administrative assistance, Switzerland could compare the case with the HSBC list and refuse to offer any assistance if the case were to be found on the list.

Further, France promised that it will not pass the data on to other states.

Last week, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has controversially said this week that it does not object to the use of stolen data in the fight against tax evasion.