Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- PART I The past
- 1 Linkages
- 2 The ‘Offshore’ environment
- 3 The service providers and the consumer (1)
- 4 The service providers and the consumer (2)
- 5 The significance of taxation
- 6 A description of regulatory and supervisory processes
- 7 The regulator and the regulatory authority
- 8 Money laundering
- 9 Some international organisations and groupings
- PART II The present
- PART III The future
- Appendix 1
- Appendix 2
- Index
2 - The ‘Offshore’ environment
from PART I - The past
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- PART I The past
- 1 Linkages
- 2 The ‘Offshore’ environment
- 3 The service providers and the consumer (1)
- 4 The service providers and the consumer (2)
- 5 The significance of taxation
- 6 A description of regulatory and supervisory processes
- 7 The regulator and the regulatory authority
- 8 Money laundering
- 9 Some international organisations and groupings
- PART II The present
- PART III The future
- Appendix 1
- Appendix 2
- Index
Summary
The demonstrated success of most of these [Offshore] centres and their liberalised financial regimes has to an extent rewritten the geography of world finance.
Introduction
Jurisdictions that provide financial services can be broadly categorised as being ‘Onshore’ or ‘Offshore’. These two financial environments co-exist within the global economic environment. This chapter starts with a brief explanation of the origin of the ‘Offshore’ environment and then proceeds to identify jurisdictions that might be described as ‘Offshore Finance Centres’. The growth of the sector is described in terms of available statistics.
Geographical dispersion
There are many ways in which the geographical dispersion of the ‘Offshore’ environment can be analysed. Here are two examples. First, Johns believes that ‘Offshore Centres’ fall within the following four regions:
the Caribbean Basin (e.g. Bermuda, the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, the Netherlands Antilles and Panama);
Europe (e.g. Switzerland and Luxembourg);
the Middle East (e.g. Bahrain and the UAE); and
the Far East (e.g. Hong Kong, Singapore and Vanuatu).
Elsewhere, five regions have been identified as follows:
Africa (e.g. Mauritius, Seychelles);
Asia and the Pacific (e.g. the Cook Islands, Labuan, Nauru, Niue, Samoa etc.);
the Caribbean (e.g. Anguilla, Antigua, Aruba, the Bahamas, Barbados, the Cayman Islands etc.);
Europe (e.g. Cyprus, Gibraltar, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Jersey etc.); and
the Middle East (e.g. Bahrain, Dubai, the Lebanon).
Whether either of these categorisations is precise, or even whether any other is more precise, is not the most significant point.
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- Information
- Offshore Finance , pp. 10 - 36Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006