Swiss franc weaker vs dollar on bank secrecy woes

ZURICH Feb 20 (Reuters) - The Swiss franc weakened against the dollar on Friday on ongoing concerns about the fate of Swiss banking secrecy after U.S. authorities put more pressure on UBS (UBSN.VX) (UBS.N) to disclose details of thousands of clients.

"There has been speculation that the Swiss government could lift banking secrecy," said Unicredit economist Armin Mekelburg, adding that some of that concern had lifted on Thursday after Berne said it would defend client privacy.

"The markets see the Swiss franc as a safe haven but that status has become unreliable because of the risk of central bank intervention," he added.

Shares in UBS plunged on Friday after U.S. tax authorities widened a probe into the Swiss bank on Thursday and were seeking 52,000 client names a day after UBS agreed to a hefty fine to settle criminal charges.

The franc was down 0.7 percent against the dollar at 1.1823 per dollar CHF= at 0846 GMT compared to the New York close, while it was off 0.1 percent against to euro to trade at 1.4888 per euro.EURCHF=

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