UBS Inching Closer to Settlement (Update)

(Updated with comment from UBS spokesperson; updates stock with closing price.)

Hiding money from the taxman in Swiss bank accounts just ain't what it used to be. UBS(UBS Quote) and its clients are finding that out the hard way.

According to published reports, the world's largest wealth manager is nearing a civil settlement with the U.S. government over a tax-related dispute.

According to a report by Reuters, citing Swiss outlets Sonntag and NZZ am Sonntag, the bank may be forking over between 3 billion to 5 billion francs ($2.77 billion to $4.62 billion) to settle the tax dispute sometime in the next two weeks. The federal government is suing the bank to press for the names of some 52,000 U.S. citizens, who are alleged to have hidden nearly $15 billion in assets from the IRS.

In response to a call placed Monday, Karina Byrne, a spokesperson for UBS, called the reported settlement range "speculative and misleading." She also added that the bank's $3.5 billion capital raising efforts announced last week have nothing to do with the reported settlement.

It was reported that the IRS already had more than 10,000 UBS client names. A filing will be made in the U.S. on June 30. A hearing is scheduled for July 13 in Miami.

In February, the bank evaded criminal charges after it agreed to hand over the names of certain clients and agreed to pay a $780 million fine.

Shares in the company, a few minutes prior to the close, were trading hands at $12.39, up 8 cents.