Introduction

Financial centres are in constant evolution in order to accommodate an increasingly integrated global economy and an ever more challenging environment. As domiciles for a range of financial services, these jurisdictions, which serve as intermediaries between mostly non-resident clients and international and local financial institutions, big or small, have grown over the last decades as a direct result of the increasing importance of financial markets across the globe. Traditionally, many of the smaller financial centres have been identified as ‘offshore’; this term refers mainly to the low-tax, flexibly licensed and less onerous regulatory regimes that have characterized some jurisdictions. The term has also been used to refer to centres with strict confidentiality laws, in some cases, and to the ability for institutions or corporate structures to operate through a centre without a substantial physical presence in it. The centres defined by these characteristics have been used by international financial players and by investors and individuals to accommodate their financial and corporate needs.