The Zurich-based regional lender said it settled with justice officials in Cologne, agreeing to pay 5.7 million euros over untaxed assets held by German clients.

The year-end settlement allows the bank to put the German investigation behind it: the agreement a blanket one for all German states, and also encapsulates ZKB's employees, the bank said in a statement on Tuesday.

The fine is paltry by comparison: Basler Kantonalbank coughed up 39 million euros in a similar probe last year, while Julius Baer and Credit Suisse paid 50 million and 150 million, respectively, five years ago. In 2014, UBS paid a whopping 300 million euros.

According to media reports, more Swiss banks are in the crosshairs of German authorities, including state-backed banks such as cantonal banks in Thurgau and Graubuenden, Deutsche Bank, J. Safra Sarasin and La Roche 1787, which has since been bought by Notenstein Private Bank.

Appetizer for U.S. Probe

Germany, traditionally the most bountiful hunting ground for Swiss banks due to its geographical proximity and common language to most of Switzerland, has mined countless data sets taken from Swiss banks. Officials in Germany had upped the ante on Switzerland by threatening to levy charges against individual Swiss bankers – mimicking a method first used by U.S. authorities in their push against Swiss offshore havens.

Roughly two dozen firms, including Bank Vontobel, are waiting to wrap up similar probes in Germany, as finews.com reported last week.

While commendable, ZKB's settlement is merely the appetizer in an ongoing, far larger spat with U.S. officials over offshore accounts for wealthy Americans. ZKB is a so-called first category bank, meaning it is being criminally investigated like rivals such as Credit Suisse, which paid $2.5 billion three years ago, and Julius Baer, which coughed up nearly $550 million in May.