Introduction

In any discussion about ‘Offshore’, there are at least three interest groups to be considered. First, there is the ‘Offshore Finance Centre’ itself – the marketplace where the ‘sellers’ and ‘buyers’ trade. The second group are the ‘sellers’ or the service providers which are those organisations that sell their services to the final consumers. Examples range from large banks to small trust and corporate services companies. The third group – the ‘buyers’ – are the ultimate users of the services. These are the clients of the service providers, for example the person who establishes a trust offshore.

This chapter describes the marketplace, i.e. the ‘Offshore Centre’ per se, and the next chapter focuses on the consumers and service providers.

Why should a jurisdiction want to be a marketplace?

First, the word ‘jurisdiction’ should be interpreted to include countries. In general, the smaller the jurisdiction, the more difficult it is to develop and to maintain a diversified economy. (Chapter 15 describes some of the difficulties that are faced by small island economies in particular.) Smaller ‘Offshore’ jurisdictions are islands, mainly because islands frequently do not have diversified economies, and imports represent a substantial portion of the balance of payments.