France will hand Austria HSBC tax data within days

VIENNA (Reuters) - France will soon hand over to Austria tax data linked to leaked client data of lender HSBC Holdings Plc which has admitted failings in compliance at its Swiss private bank, France's finance minister said on Thursday.

"My administration will of course respond positively to this request and will transfer the information desired by the Austrian authorities in the coming days," Michel Sapin told journalists after meeting Austrian counterpart Hans Joerg Schelling.

Schelling said the information included huge sets of data, some of it encrypted.

Earlier this month, Austria asked France to hand over tax data on HSBC clients linked with Austria.

France has had access to leaked HSBC client data since around the end of 2008, according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which coordinated the release of details.

Around 400 cases linked with Austria have emerged in media reports which alleged that HSBC helped wealthy customers conceal millions of dollars of assets.

(Reporting By Shadia Nasralla; Editing by Angus MacSwan)