Switzerland has made progress in solving a dispute with the US over money secreted in Swiss bank accounts and hopes for a resolution this year, its finance minister said yesterday at the World Economic Forum conference in Davos, Reuters reported.

"We hope to conclude the negotiations in 2012," Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf told journalists after talks with US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner at the annual gathering of policymakers, business leaders and opinion-formers in the fashionable ski resort.

A possible general deal between the Alpine state and the US, following bilateral disclosure agreements between Switzerland and the UK and Germany, would be a welcome move for Switzerland, which has come under relentless assault over its financial secrecy, particularly since the 2008 financial crisis. Banking and finance accounts for around 12 per cent of Swiss GDP; the country is home to more than SFr2.1 trillion (around $2.26 trillion) in offshore assets (source: Booz & Co).

Widmer-Schlumpf said Switzerland was already discussing possible fines its banking industry will have to secure a global civil settlement with US authorities.

It is also, the report said, trying to get the US Department of Justice to drop criminal probes of 11 banks, including Credit Suisse and Julius Baer.

"I assume we will be able to sort it out for these 11 banks as well as for the banking sector as a whole," she said.

Widmer-Schlumpf, who also holds the rotating Swiss presidency, said Geithner had recognized that the country had made major efforts to clean up its tax haven image.

In a separate story relating to US relations with non-domestic banks, it has been reported by this publication and others that HSBC is being probed by US lawmakers in a money-laundering enquiry.