In that sense offshore business is highly secure. Governments of offshore banking centers work hard on establishing good image of their country. They would never risk to expropriate anything.
I would recommend you Jersey corporation and Guernsey account. Unfortunately I can not provide the link to the article discussing benefits of such combination, but I am pretty sure you can figure out them yourself.
It really does not matter you registered a company in offshore area or onshore area. The effect of crisis comes from the activities you your company does.
BTW I have never tried Panama accounts myself. What I have tried is Jersey HSBC account that is really convenient. I cannot say anything about bank secrecy, because it was never an issue for me.