Mr Hummler, who is also chairman of the Swiss daily newspaper Neuer ZuercherZeitung, has previously been unusually outspoken among Swiss bankers in calling for the country's authorities to block any disclosure of banking client details to the US authorities.
This past March the Swiss daily Neue ZuercherZeitung reported that Iranian defector Ali Reza Asghari, who before his March 2007 defection to the US served as a general in Iran's Revolutionary Guards and as deputy defense minister, divulged that Iran paid for the North Korean facility.