GUERNSEY should not be stigmatised by the term ‘offshore’, according to the island’s branch of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners.

Step Guernsey chairman Alison MacKrill (pictured) said the island was a ‘prominent finance centre of excellence’ and therefore the offshore distinction was not applicable in this way.

The International Monetary Fund has decided to drop the terms, onshore and offshore, a move that has been applauded by Chief Minister Lyndon Trott. Step director of policy Keith Johnston said the organisation would robustly make the case to the Treasury Select Committee that the arbitrary onshore/offshore divide should come to an end.

‘The term, “offshore”, is wrong because it is often used to stigmatise jurisdictions based on their geographic size or location,’ said Mr Johnston. ‘Instead, any assessment of financial centres should be unequivocally based on a uniform assessment of risks to global financial stability, money laundering and fraud.’