Offshore financial centers might be feeling the heat from Washington, Paris and Berlin but could yet come out of the financial turmoil with a new ally - the wealthy from emerging markets.

Switzerland, unofficially the world's biggest offshore financial center, has seen foreign assets held in its banks fall by one trillion Swiss francs since the end of 2007, according to the Swiss National Bank. Much of this drop can be attributed to negative market movements, but the fall was also due to offshore money leaving the country and going onshore for fear of reprisals.