Swiss bank data worth up to 400 mln eur-German paper

BERLIN Feb 5 (Reuters) - Stolen Swiss bank data that Germany wants to buy to use against possible cross-border tax cheats may be worth up to 400 million euros ($549 million) in additional revenue, far more than previously thought, a German paper reported on Friday.

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily said the German government had estimated the sum based on a hundred samples of the information authorities had obtained and investigated. The paper did not cite its sources.

German media had previously reported that the sensitive client data, offered for sale by an informant, contained information on up to 1,500 possible tax evaders and could lead to a 100 million euro boost for state coffers.

On Thursday Germany's most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) said it was ready to acquire the data, raising the stakes in a controversial saga that has provoked outrage in Switzerland.

The NRW state government said a legal examination had determined that acquiring the stolen data would not be illegal.

The announcement this week from top German politicians that they were ready to pay for the data shook Switzerland's large private banking industry and the controversy could balloon into a diplomatic spat.

Germany paid for stolen data in 2008 when it purchased information stolen from Liechtenstein's top bank LGT, forcing the tiny principality to give up bank secrecy rules.

Earlier on Friday the CEO of Swiss private bank Julius Baer (BAER.VX) said he had no indications that the stolen data stemmed from its accounts.

Britain's HSBC (HSBA.L) declined to comment on Monday on reports that the data belonged to its clients.

The German government has said it is ready to pay for data on clients of Swiss banks who may have been evading German taxes, even if the information was obtained illegally. [ID:nLDE6101VZ] (Reporting by Brian Rohan; editing by Patrick Graham)