200,000 WWII Swiss Accounts Reported

Two years after Swiss banks said they had fewer than 800 unclaimed Holocaust-era accounts, they are now poised to reveal that up to 200,000 accounts may have been found, sources reported Thursday.

The sources, close to the Swiss Bankers Assn. and Jewish groups involved in the search, said banking authorities were expected to announce soon that between 100,000 and 200,000 unclaimed World War II accounts belonging to Swiss citizens are still in their banks.

In June, Swiss bankers said they had about 2,000 unclaimed foreign accounts, many of them belonging to Jews, and about 20,000 unclaimed Swiss accounts. Bowing to international pressure, the Swiss published the names of the foreign account holders in newspapers around the world.