ZURICH -- The news was celebrated as a triumph in the U.S. and the EU. Last Friday the Swiss government capitulated to international threats and blackmail, pledging to ease the bank customer secrecy law which Switzerland had defended tooth and nail for decades. Some 70 agreements with individual countries must still be negotiated, but the trend is clear. Foreign bank customers who store untaxed assets in Switzerland must expect their accounts to be revealed. The Alpine fortress is tottering.

It was the government's second...