BERN, Switzerland (Bloomberg) — Liechtenstein said it is confident talks with the UK on the exchange of tax information will lead to a "swift" agreement after the two sides held discussions yesterday in Bern.

Negotiations focused on ways to encourage voluntary declaration of assets by British investors, the principality said in an e-mailed release yesterday. More talks are scheduled before the end of April.

"Based on the positive and pragmatic talks yesterday, I'm confident that a swift agreement in possible," Prince Nikolaus, Liechtenstein's ambassador, said in the statement.

Liechtenstein, one of three countries on the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's list of uncooperative tax havens along with Andorra and Monaco, said last month it will conform to the OECD's standards. The move comes as pressure from industrialised countries mounts to wipe out tax havens.

According to the agreement being hammered out, the UK would request that Liechtenstein banks shut accounts of clients who don't volunteer information, a spokesman for the Revenue & Customs department, who declined to be identified, said last week.

While the official didn't say what the penalty might be, a similar plan put in place in 2007 capped fines at 10 percent of the value of the account.

"I would urge those who have been hiding assets in Liechtenstein or anywhere else not to wait but to come forward as soon as possible, because you won't be any worse off for doing so," Dave Hartnett, the top civil servant in the UK department, said in an e-mailed statement on March 27.

Hartnett and Liechtenstein Prime Minister Klaus Tschuetscher said last week that such bilateral agreements could be the model for future tax treaties. Tschuetscher also said Liechtenstein, wedged in the Alps between Switzerland and Austria, is willing to sign bilateral agreements that go beyond OECD standards.

Liechtenstein officials sat down with German counterparts on March 13, though Germany hasn't yet agreed to formal talks. The microstate, with a population of 35,000, came under scrutiny last year as part of a German-led tax probe.

Leaders of the Group of 20 most industrialised nations, who meet today in London, are pushing to end tax flight as part of their overhaul of the global financial system. The leaders are divided on whether to publish a list of countries accused of being tax havens.

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said bilateral tax information-sharing agreements on the OECD model are the best way to deal with the issue of offshore financial centres.