By Helena Bachmann in Geneva, Time Magazine, March 15, 2012

[....] In early February, in a move that rattled Switzerland's financial industry, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted Wegelin on charges of helping wealthy Americans hide $1.2 billion from U.S. tax authorities. As the first foreign bank in history to be indicted by the U.S. government, the ruined Wegelin was quickly sold to a former rival, Raiffeisen Group. But the Obama Administration was just getting started — it also ramped up the pressure on 11 more Swiss financial institutions to hand over their American clients' names. Now it looks like U.S. authorities might get their wish.

On March 4, the Swiss parliament approved an amendment to the country's existing tax accord with the U.S., which, when ratified by the U.S. Senate, will give the American government unprecedented access to accounts held by its citizens in Switzerland. While the existing agreement has long allowed the release of tax information in cases of proven wrongdoing, various stumbling blocks, like different interpretations of tax evasion under Swiss and American laws, often slowed or even halted the process. [....]

The amended treaty will now allow U.S. authorities to identify American tax evaders who exhibit certain "behavioral patterns" more easily [....]