He said it was unclear, however, whether those sums were quoted in wartime or present-day values. At the exchange rate in 1946, 20 million Swiss francs would have been worth $4.8 million. A recent British Foreign Office report said that at the end of the war, the United States estimated that some $200 million worth of Nazi bullion had passed through Switzerland in the war.

But according to Commerce Department officials in Washington, other recent estimates by Congressional investigators have suggested that the real amount was more than twice that much.

In response to a mounting outcry in recent months, the Swiss authorities have offered to waive some of their bank secrecy laws to permit several investigations into the charge that Switzerland profited from the Holocaust.

One inquiry in conjunction with United States investigators is to look into the fate of unclaimed assets. Switzerland has also established a panel of eminent historians and jurists to investigate its financial dealings with Nazi Germany.

Mr. Abegg, the National Bank spokesman, said the bank made its disclosures today ''in preparation for the commission of experts'' that is to begin its inquiries in Switzerland next year.

He said Mr. Roth had explained that Switzerland was trading with Nazi Germany as the price of its effort to prevent Nazi occupation. At the time, Switzerland was encircled by Nazi-occupied countries.

''Both the Allies and the Germans had an interest in a free Swiss franc market,'' Mr Abegg said. He quoted Mr. Roth as saying in Zurich today that Switzerland's wartime ''dealings with the Allies were higher'' than those acknowledged with Germany. But he said he was unable to provide figures for those transactions.