According to the Financial Times Deutschland, a CD with the names of 1,000 clients of the bank’s Swiss branch was sold for £2.75m ($4.25m) sold to officials of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia last week.

Coutts has released a statement rebutting these claims, insisting that the confidentiality of customers’ accounts is taken "extremely seriously".

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There is no indication of who sold the client details to North Rhine-Westphalia officials.

The situation is unlikely to alleviate tensions between Germany and Switzerland. The two countries have become embroiled over German authorities probing into secret Swiss accounts.

PBI reported on 12 July that German clients of Credit Suisse were being investigated over alleged tax evasion.

Last year the Swiss bank paid German prosecutors €150m ($184m) to stop an investigation into whether it had assisted clients in dodging taxes.

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Source: Private Banker International