Other countries or territories have copied the model  Liechtenstein, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Macao and Hong Kong among them. And while Switzerland is probably seen as the most conservative, blue chip, upstanding offshore haven, the others are measured by a sliding scale of probity and association with dubious business practices, if not crime. The European banker said that in the early 1990s, following the fall of the Soviet Union, he worked in Switzerland where he said agents of Russian expats would show up with “boxes of cash” from Cyprus, a popular haven for capital fleeing the Russian authorities and the country’s post-collapse chaos.

The backlash against this illicit world has not been confined to the United States; it is apparent across Europe, too.

France will become of one of the first European countries to put in place a new tax treaty with Switzerland to improve transparency and access to banking information. Germany is in discussions with Liechtenstein over issues related to tax evasion by German companies and individuals. Liechtenstein has also struck a disclosure agreement with Britain, encouraging British clients of Liechtenstein banks to volunteer information to British tax authorities in return for reduced penalties. In Italy, tax officials have started an investigation into whether the estate of the late Gianni Agnelli, the former chairman of Fiat, has money hidden away in Switzerland. In Britain, the government has become particularly exercised by tax competition  the offering of low tax rates and other advantages like tax secrecy to lure capital away.

In the Swiss settlement last week, the American authorities got the information they needed after they saw an opportunity in the weakness of UBS, a bank that once enjoyed a sterling global reputation but has suffered billions of dollars in losses linked to United States subprime securities and had to be saved by a big government bailout last October. For the Swiss government, the deal lifts the immediate threat of heftier legal action and frees the bank  one of the mainstays of the Swiss economy  to concentrate on recovery.

But will anything really change? Although the United States is supposed to learn the identities of a few thousand tax evaders, those names will go first to an intermediate tax administration in Switzerland for review. The actual process of recovering the names may become lost in bureaucracy and foot-dragging.

Moreover, as The Times reported last week, smaller Swiss banks say they are confident that they can continue to profit by finding new, more elaborate ways to protect the privacy of their clients. Those banks continue to help clients hide billions of dollars through complex structures in offshore havens.