I guess it depends on what you're trying to hide. For the vast majority of people with not much to hide but their money (no fraud, money laundering, crimes against humanity, etc) then they can live with some thinning of the veil. The Swiss private banking industry will be in overdrive to engineer counter measures to ensure the looking glass is adequately opaque. And banking secrecy isn't the only factor in where you park your money. Putting it in a politically stable safe haven with investor protection and a rule of law are also big factors in safeguarding your wealth. Putting it in a banana republic might provide more secrecy but it doesn't mean you could sleep easy at night. On the IRS side, better the devil you know. They've got UBS by the short and curlies and have won some concessions (how much isn't yet clear). Better that than have the wealth they're targeting driven deeper underground to a place where they have no influence. So despite all the hype on both sides, there's a whiff of compromise and pragmatism about this "negotiated settlement". Because that's what it is.