Top Swiss Bank Admits Wrongdoing

As Swiss banks sought to restore credibility lost in their handling of dormant accounts thought to belong to Holocaust victims, one of the country’s top banks acknowledged Wednesday that it had earlier failed to report the existence of accounts worth more than $10 million that may include Jewish assets.

The admission, by the Swiss Bank Corp. in Basel, clouded an unparalleled move by the banks to publish details of dormant accounts opened before May 9, 1945, the day after the end of the World War II in Europe.

The banks were hoping to counter persistent criticism from the United States and Jewish groups that they had callously hoarded assets belonging to slain Jews for more than half a century.

In newspaper advertisements published Wednesday in 28 countries and on a newly established Internet site, the Swiss Bankers Association listed 1,756 dormant accounts along with the names of their owners and of people with power of attorney over them.