For Offshore Please Read International

‘Well-run jurisdictions of all sorts, whether nominally on or offshore, are good for the global financial system.’

Well, we would say that, here in the Isle of Man, wouldn’t we! Backdrop to the Island’s annual Budget flagged up zero business tax, triple ‘A’ credit rating, state-of-the-art communications, top class public services, space for expansion – and, that fundamental yardstick of economic success, a growth rate to die for (currently bordering on 8 per cent).

But the quote is actually from the Economist, that highly respected trade organ of City thinking, which published a recent survey of offshore financial centres. While the magazine had historically been somewhat hostile towards OFCs, the report marked a shift towards a much more benign view of the role of offshore finance – even going as far as to concede that general concerns previously had been ‘overblown.’