Swiss accuse Germans of bank robbery in data row

+ Swiss bank secrecy row escalates, Germans mull buying data

+ Swiss banking lobby demands return of data

+ UBS shares up slightly, in line with sector index

BERLIN, Feb 2 (Reuters) - A Swiss lawmaker likened Germany's attempts to get hold of data on cross-border tax evaders to bank robbery on Tuesday, turning up the volume in a growing row between the two nations over Swiss bank secrecy. Germany said on Monday it was prepared to pay for data on clients of a Swiss bank offered to authorities by a whistleblower, even if the information had been obtained illegally.

"Here we have a new form of bank robbery," Swiss lawmaker Pirmin Bischof told Germany's Deutschlandfunk radio. "Before, you had to go to the bank and get hold of the money with a weapon. Today you can do it electronically by stealing data.

"This should not be allowed in a country based on the rule of law," Bischof added.

Switzerland has faced increasing challenges to its banking secrecy practices. Last year it agreed to relax its strict rules on client privacy to fend off potential sanctions by the G20 group of leading nations.

And UBS, Switzerland's biggest wealth manager, settled with the U.S. tax authorities in August by agreeing to share data on 4,450 clients. But that deal, considered crucial to UBS's business in the U.S., is in question after a Swiss court ruled last month that most of the data cannot be released.

Shares in UBS inched up after hitting a 6-1/2 month low during Monday's session. By 1122 GMT on Tuesday, its shares were up 1.2 percent at 14.38 francs, in line with the DJ Stoxx European banking sector index.

The SBA Swiss banking lobby urged Germany to return the data to the owner.

"We expect the German government not to purchase the data and as such act as a receiver of stolen goods," said the SBA in a tersely worded statement.

"There is no justification for resorting to illegal methods of obtaining data," it said, adding that any action against Switzerland could be counterproductive to further negotiations on issues related to bank secrecy.

However, Berne is worried that Berlin will go ahead and pay for the data, especially as there has been a precedent. In 2008, Germany paid for data stolen from Liechtenstein's top bank LGT.

German media, which estimated that authorities obtained around 200 million euros in tax revenues when Germany bought the LGT data, are saying the whistleblower's data on 1,500 possible tax evaders could yield 100 million euros this time.

The finance ministry declined to comment on the LGT case. Authorities have estimated German citizens have 100 billion euros in Swiss bank accounts. (Additional reporting by Lisa Jucca, editing by Will Waterman)