As the Chinese saying goes, "may you always live in interesting times". And the past couple of years have been very interesting, and in many ways much like a curse. We have been battered with anachronisms to such an extent that even the offshore professionals dealing with the proponents of these initiatives cannot remember to what band of bureaucracy they belong. The OECD, FATF, QI, NCCTs, CFATF, HTP Group, G8, SCEEAMLMCE (no I did not make that one up, it stands for "The Select Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures of the Council of Europe)have all weighed in with their opinions and requirements.
What this all means for the offshore world is increased regulation and regulatory bodies with their associated costs. Like all industries where the costs of entry and operations rise, the result will be that some small offshore financial centers will find it impossible to fund an effective regulatory regime. As these small financial centers disappear, so
