How Offshore Tax Wealth Havens Came About . A Guide

How Offshore Tax Wealth Havens Came About . A Guide for Your Financial Wealth Planning

It is important to keep in mind that offshore financial centers were originally established by onshore banks and corporations. Why? Because felt hemmed-in by archaic laws, regulations and statutes. For example, Citicorp (the largest American-owned bank in the United States) was one of the first to set-up offshore operations. It wasn’t too long before 64 percent of its net income was being generated by offshore sources.

Some of the pioneering centers have evolved into world-class financial and economic headquarters. Since the early 1970s, these centers have initiated policies deliberately designed to attract international trade by minimizing tax obligations and reducing (or entirely eliminating) other restrictions on business operations. The result is that economic activity within these centers is specifically geared to the special global needs of outside businesses and investors.

Typically, these centers are small states with tiny populations. To date more than 75 of these tax havens exist throughout the world. Each one of them is a unique offshore haven of sorts...