The Swiss government said it would appoint up to five temporary judges to deal with complaints arising from an agreement to hand over data on some UBS client accounts to U.S. authorities.

The new appointments will be limited to two years and are intended to speed complaints through the Federal Administrative Court following a deal between Bern and the United States that allows client details to be surrendered in the case of tax fraud and the like by U.S. citizens with Swiss UBS accounts. Switzerland last month agreed to reveal the names of about 4,450 wealthy American clients of UBS, the world's second-largest wealth manager, in a tax dispute settlement that pierced Swiss banking secrecy.

The Swiss government said it expects around 500 complaints by the end of this year, with more likely in 2010 depending on the outcome of initial complaints.

(Reporting by Jason Rhodes; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)