‘On and off’ end backed by bankers

Tuesday 22nd July 2008, 2:29PM BST.

THE British Bankers’ Association has backed the States claim that the categorisation of offshore financial centres is becoming increasingly irrelevant.

It has warned the UK Treasury Select Committee that its inquiry should be wary of generic connotations encapsulated by the term.

‘The public perception of OFCs as havens for tax evaders is somewhat out of date and particularly in the case of the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man is quite at odds with the reality,’ the BBA said in its submission to the inquiry.

The International Monetary Fund has announced that it has dropped the distinction between offshore and onshore because the issue had been ‘blurred by globalisation’. It will now adopt a more uniform and risk-based approach to financial-sector surveillance.