Shine a light

When things go wrong in the global financial markets, offshore centres are an easy political football to kick. ‘There’s always a great deal of rhetoric about the terrible inequities within the offshore markets,’ says Robert Shepherd, managing partner of Guernsey law firm Ozannes. However, when the analysis is actually carried out economists often concede that the offshore jurisdictions are in no way responsible for the global problems, according to many offshore lawyers.

Referring specifically to the G20 pledge to name and shame offshore jurisdictions not effectively exchanging tax information, ‘there was something of a “here we go again” reaction in Jersey,’ says Peter Byrne, banking and corporate finance group head at Jersey-based firm Bedell Cristin. Byrne adds that, historically, he has found that such scrutiny results in conclusions that provide excellent marketing material. Henry Smith, partner at Cayman Islands-based law firm Maples and Calder, concurs: ‘We are used to adverse comment, but we don’t mind as we know that we are much more vigilant than many onshore territories.’

For many, such processes give an opportunity to explain exactly what offshore lawyers do and the global benefits that are derived from channelling investment capital through these Cayman Islands fund vehicles from investors in one jurisdiction to projects and businesses in other jurisdictions.

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