Guernsey has emerged in fine fettle from the recent flurry of reports on offshore financial centres ("OFCs"), with praise bestowed upon it by the Financial Action Task Force (the "FATF") and the Financial Stability Forum ("FSF"), particularly with regard to its contribution to the drive against money-laundering.
What Are These Organisations And What Do They Say?
The FATF is an inter-governmental body set up in 1989 by the major financial centres of Europe, North America and Asia with the sole purpose of combating money laundering.
The Financial Stability Forum ("FSF") was also established by the G7 countries and, in April 1999, set up a working group to consider the implications of OFCs for global financial stability. FSF's report made it clear that it did not regard OFCs as inimical to global financial stability provided that they are well-regulated and supervisory authorities co-operated with each other. The FSF placed Guernsey in the top division of OFCs.
