EVERY two years the Tax Justice Network, a campaigning group, publishes a Financial Secrecy Index (FSI), showing which jurisdictions are friendliest towards tax evaders, money launderers and other financial ne’er-do-wells. Countries are ranked according to a combination of a secrecy score (based on 15 indicators, including banking secrecy, transparency of corporate ownership and international judicial co-operation) and a weighting that reflects the size of their financial sector. The latest FSI, released on November 7th, shows Switzerland once again at the top of the list, with a score little changed from 2011 (Zurich is pictured above). Though the Swiss have made some concessions, especially to America, these appear so far to have put only small dents in their overall financial-secrecy framework. Meanwhile, they have been striving to block or delay multilateral transparency initiatives. The government did recently agree to sign an OECD tax convention, but this calls only for “on request” (not automatic) exchange of information. Still, it would bring down the Alpine country’s secrecy score a bit, if ratified.

The index shows that the biggest player in the world of offshore secrecy is Britain, if it is lumped together with its island dependencies in the English Channel, the Caribbean and elsewhere. Britain itself is only in 21st place, but two of its satellites—Jersey and the Cayman Islands—are in the top ten, with Bermuda and Guernsey not far behind. Together they account for between a third and a half of the global market in offshore financial and corporate services. Much of the money they collect is funnelled through the City of London.

These islands have become a bit more open as international pressure on tax havens has intensified: most have seen their secrecy score drop since 2011, with the most dramatic fall in the British Virgin Islands, home to hundreds of thousands of offshore shell companies (see chart). All of them have signed new international tax agreements that allow for some degree of information exchange, or announced their intention to do so. But although some have curbed their secrecy offerings, others have expanded them. Earlier this year, for instance, Guernsey added foundations (the civil-law equivalent of trusts, which are common-law arrangements) to its stable of offerings. That helped to push up its secrecy score, though it remains one of the less opaque offshore financial centres.