The Social Democratic Party in Switzerland said it will drop objections to a data transfer deal between the US and the Alpine state surrounding UBS in last year’s high-profile tax evasion case, Reuters reported. The party said it would drop its objections if the government taxes banker bonuses, the news agency reported.

The focus on banker bonuses came as UBS shareholders were due to face executives today at the Swiss bank’s annual general meeting. UBS has opened the door for a possible clash with shareholders at April’s annual meeting after it said it would enable a vote on the formal discharge for board members and senior executives who had been in charge during the credit crisis.

Last August, the US and Switzerland reached an agreement under which UBS will transfer details on up to 4,450 client accounts, as part of a civil lawsuit brought against the wealth manager by US authorities. UBS in February last year paid $780 million to settle criminal charges that it helped wealthy US citizens evade tax.

The August data transfer agreement has, however, been thrown into potential disarray after a top Swiss court blocked the transfer – Swiss bank secrecy law forbids banks from betraying client affairs. In the Swiss parliament, meanwhile, the right-wing SVP Party opposes the data transfer.

"The Social Democrats would like to agree to the treaty with the United States because it sees the problems that would arise again in the United States otherwise," Social Democrat General Secretary Thomas Christen, was quoted by the news service as saying.

UBS’s executive remuneration is a particularly sensitive issue because the Swiss bank, hit by massive credit losses, has received taxpayers’ money as part of a state bailout. Clients have pulled billions of dollars from the wealth management arm of the bank, although outflows have slowed in recent months, as reported here earlier this week.