Offshore Pilot Quarterly - Commentary on Matters Offshore

Dragons and Virgins

Offshore financial centres need thick skins. Not only are they under constant criticism from the governments of developed countries, those individuals who don’t use their facilities are, generally speaking, less than flattering in their views of them as well. Monaco (in the public eye this year because of the death of Prince Rainier) is an example. Even before its present offshore profile as a miniscule money centre, when playing cards rather than presenting them prevailed, it was described by Karl Marx as a "robbers nest". Paul Theroux felt that it was a place for "anal retentive tax exiles" and the writer, Katherine Mansfield, saw only "rich fat capitalists".

Although perhaps not in such strident terms, China’s Ministry of Commerce has been critical of another offshore money centre, this time the British Virgin Islands because of its strong connections with Hong Kong. The Asian dragon is not upset that some of the estimated 28 million Chinese tourists who